The Law of Fear and the Grace of Love

The Law Alarms, Grace Assists

1. When the Holy Gospel was being read, we heard something that should immediately stir every earnest soul to seek, not to grow weary. Anyone who is not moved cannot be changed. But there is a dangerous movement, of which it is written, "Suffer not my feet to be moved." There is another movement—that of the person who seeks, knocks, and asks. We have all heard what was just read, but I suppose we haven't all understood it. It speaks of something that together we should seek and ask for. We should knock together to receive it. As I hope the Lord's grace will be with us, I wish to minister to you, and I too hope to be worthy to receive.

What did the Lord say to His disciples that we just heard? "Until now you have asked nothing in My Name." Isn't He speaking to those same disciples who, after He sent them out with power to preach the Gospel and perform mighty works, returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us through Your Name" ? You recognize this passage from the Gospel, which speaks truth in every section and sentence—never false, never misleading.

How then can both statements be true: "Until now you have asked nothing in My Name" and "Lord, even the demons are subject to us through Your name" ? This certainly stirs our minds to discover the solution to this puzzle. So let us ask, seek, and knock. May we have faithful godliness within us—not physical restlessness, but a submissive mind. Then He who sees us knocking will open to us.

2. Receive with hunger what the Lord gives me to share with you. When I've spoken, you will certainly approve what comes from the Lord's storehouse with good judgment. The Lord Jesus knew what could satisfy the human soul—the rational mind made in God's image. Only He Himself could satisfy it. He knew this, and He knew the soul still lacked this fullness. He knew He was both revealed and hidden. He knew what was displayed in Him and what was concealed. He knew all this.

As the Psalm says, "How great is the abundance of Your sweetness, O Lord, which You have hidden from those who fear You; which You have prepared for those who hope in You!" (Psalm 31:19). "Your sweetness" —both great and abundant— "You have hidden from those who fear You." If You hide it from those who fear You, to whom do You reveal it? "You have prepared it for those who hope in You." This raises two questions, but each one answers the other.

If someone asks, "What does it mean that You have hidden it from those who fear You but prepared it for those who hope in You?" Are those who fear and those who hope different groups? Don't the same people who fear God also hope in Him? Who hopes in God without fearing Him? Who fears God in a godly way without having hope in Him? Let me first address this. I want to say something about those who hope and those who fear.

3. The Law brings fear; Grace brings hope. What's the difference between Law and Grace, since the same God gives both? The Law alarms those who rely on themselves; Grace helps those who trust in God. The Law, I say, alarms us. Don't dismiss this statement because it's brief. Consider it carefully—it's significant. Examine what I've said, accept my teaching, and verify its source in scripture.

The Law alarms those who rely on themselves; Grace helps those who trust in God. What does the Law say? Many things—who can list them all? I'll share just one brief commandment that the Apostle highlighted. Let's see who can fulfill it: "You shall not have sinful desire" (Romans 7:7). What does this mean, brothers? We've heard the Law. Without grace, we've just heard our punishment.

Why do you boast to me, whoever you are who relies on yourself after hearing this? Why boast about your innocence? Why flatter yourself? You might say, "I haven't stolen others' property." I hear that, I believe it, perhaps I even see it—you don't steal. You've heard, "You shall not have sinful desire." You say, "I don't go to another man's wife." Again, I hear, believe, and see this. You've heard, "You shall not have sinful desire."

Why do you only examine yourself outwardly but not inwardly? Look within, and you'll discover another law in your members. Look inside—why do you overlook yourself? Enter your own heart. You'll "see another law in your members opposing the law of your mind and bringing you into captivity to the law of sin in your members" (Romans 7:23). No wonder God's sweetness remains hidden from you. The law in your members that opposes your mind's law has made you a captive.

The holy angels drink of that sweetness hidden from you. You cannot taste it while you remain captive. "You would not have known sinful desire unless the Law had said, 'You shall not have sinful desire'" (Romans 7:7). You heard the command, you feared, you tried to fight, but couldn't overcome. For "sin took opportunity through the commandment to produce death" (Romans 7:11).

Surely you recognize these words from the Apostle: "Sin took opportunity through the commandment to produce in me all kinds of sinful desire." Why did you boast in your pride? With your own weapons, the enemy has defeated you. You looked for the commandment as protection, but through that very commandment, the enemy found an opportunity to enter.

"Sin took opportunity through the commandment," he says, "deceived me, and through it killed me" (Romans 7:11). What do I mean by "your own weapons defeated you"? Listen as the Apostle continues: "Therefore the Law is holy, and the commandment holy, just, and good" (Romans 7:12).

Answer the critics of the Law with the Apostle's authority: "The commandment is holy, the Law holy, the commandment just and good. Was what is good made death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear as sin, produced death in me through what is good" (Romans 7:13).

Why did this happen? Because when you received the commandment, you feared punishment rather than loving righteousness. Anyone who fears punishment wishes they could do what pleases them without facing consequences. God forbids adultery. You've desired another's wife, but you don't approach her. You don't act on it when the opportunity arises—when you have time, a suitable place, and no witnesses. Why not? Because you fear punishment.

But you think, "No one will know." Won't God know? It's clear that you don't act because God knows what you're about to do. But you're only afraid of God's threats; you don't love His commands. Why don't you commit adultery? Because if you do, you'll be thrown into hell fire. You fear the fire. If you truly loved purity, you wouldn't do it even if there were no punishment.

If God said to you, "Go ahead, do it. I won't condemn you or send you to hell fire. I'll only turn My face away from you." If you still refused based on this threat, it would be from love of God, not fear of judgment. But you probably would do it—though I can't judge you.

If you don't do it because you hate adultery's corruption, because you love God's commands and want His promises rather than fearing His judgment, then it's the grace that makes people holy that helps you. It's all grace—don't credit yourself or your own strength. You act from delight? Good. You act from love? Good. I agree. Love works through you when you act willingly. You immediately taste sweetness when you hope in the Lord.

4. But where did you get this love, if you truly have it? I worry that you still act from fear and think too highly of yourself. If you act from love, you're truly great. Do you have love? "I do," you say. Where from? "From myself." You're far from sweetness if you claim it comes from yourself. You'll only love yourself because you love what you think is your own source of love.

I can prove you don't have love. The fact that you think you have such a great gift from yourself shows you don't have it. If you had it, you'd know its true source. Do you think love comes from yourself, as if it were some small, insignificant thing?

"If you spoke with human and angelic tongues, but had no love, you'd be just noisy brass or a clanging cymbal. If you knew all mysteries, had all knowledge and prophecy, and had faith to move mountains, but had no love," these would profit you nothing. "If you gave away all your possessions to the poor and surrendered your body to be burned, but had no love, you would be nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

How valuable is this love that makes everything else worthless without it! Don't compare it to your faith, knowledge, gift of tongues, or lesser things. Don't compare it to any bodily part—eye, hand, foot, stomach, or any minor organ. Are these lesser things comparable to love?

You received your eyes and nose from God. Did you give yourself love? If you've given yourself love—something that surpasses everything—you've made God seem unimportant. What more could God give you? Whatever He gives is less than love. But if you have love, you didn't give it to yourself. "What do you have that you didn't receive?" (1 Corinthians 4:7).

Who gave to me, who gave to you? God. Recognize Him in His gifts so you won't face His judgment. By believing the Scriptures, God gave you love—that great gift which surpasses all. God gave it to you "because God's love has been poured into our hearts" —by yourself? God forbid! "By the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Romans 5:5).

5. Let's return to that captive I mentioned earlier. "The Law alarms those who rely on themselves; grace helps those who trust in God." Look at this captive. "He sees another law in his members fighting against the law of his mind and making him a prisoner of the law of sin in his members." See how he's bound, dragged along, captured, and subjugated.

What good did the command "You shall not have sinful desire" do him? He heard "You shall not have sinful desire" and learned about his enemy but couldn't defeat him. "He wouldn't have known sinful desire" —his enemy— "unless the Law had said, 'You shall not have sinful desire.'" Now you've seen the enemy; fight, free yourself, secure your freedom. Suppress the suggestions of pleasure and destroy unlawful delight.

Arm yourself—you have the Law. March forward and conquer if you can. But what good is it that through the small portion of God's grace you already have, you "delight in God's Law in your inner being? But you see another law in your members warring against the law of your mind" —not just resisting but "making you a captive to the law of sin" (Romans 7:22-23).

Now you see why God's abundant sweetness remains hidden from you who are fearful! It is hidden from those who fear, but how does it work for those who trust? Cry out while under attack from your enemy. Though you face an assailant, you also have a Helper. He watches your struggle and assists you in difficulty—but only when He finds you trusting, because He rejects the proud.

What should you cry out under this enemy? "What a wretched man I am!" You see it already because you've cried out. This should be your cry when you're distressed by the enemy. Say it in your heart with sound faith: "What a wretched man I am!" Wretched because of myself. "What a wretched man I am" both because I am myself and because I am human. "He is troubled in vain" (Psalm 39:6). Though "man walks in God's image" , still, "what a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:24).

Can you save yourself? Where is your strength? Where is your confidence? You cry out to God yet remain silent about yourself. This is good—be silent about your own merits, but cry out to God for help. God Himself is both silent and vocal. He is silent regarding judgment but speaks clearly regarding His commands. Similarly, you should be silent about self-praise but vocal in prayer. Otherwise, God might say to you, "I have been silent until now. Shall I remain silent forever?" (Isaiah 42:14).

Cry out then, "What a wretched man I am!" Acknowledge your defeat. Put aside your strength and say, "What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" Earlier I said, "The Law alarms those who rely on themselves." Look—this man relied on himself, tried to fight, couldn't win, was conquered, knocked down, subjugated, and captured.

He learned to rely on God instead. Now the Law that alarmed him while he relied on himself gives way to grace that assists him as he trusts in God. With this confidence he asks, "Who will deliver me from this body of death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 7:24-25). Now taste the sweetness, savor it, enjoy it. Listen to the Psalm: "Taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:8).

He has become sweet to you because He has delivered you. You were bitter to yourself when you relied on yourself. Drink this sweetness; receive this pledge of such great abundance.

6. The Lord Jesus' disciples, while still under the Law, needed further cleansing, nourishment, correction, and direction. They still had sinful desires, though the Law says, "You shall not have sinful desire." Without offending those holy leaders of the flock, I must speak the truth: the Gospel tells us they argued about which of them would be greatest. While the Lord was still on earth, they were disturbed by a dispute about prominence (Luke 22:24).

Where did this come from? From the old leaven. It came from the law in their members opposing the law of their minds. They sought importance. They desired it. They wondered who would be greatest. Therefore their pride was humbled by a little child. Jesus called them to humility to tame their swelling desire.

For good reason, when they returned and said, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us through Your Name," they were rejoicing over nothing important. How small was this compared to what God promised! The Lord, the Good Master, calming their fear and building firm support, told them, "Don't rejoice that the demons are subject to you" (Luke 10:20).

Why not? Because "many will come in My name saying, 'Look, in Your name we cast out demons,' and I will tell them, 'I don't know you.' Don't rejoice in this, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven" (Matthew 7:22-23, Luke 10:20). You can't be there yet, but you're already written there. So "rejoice."

Similarly, when Jesus said, "Until now you have asked nothing in My Name" (John 16:24), He meant that what they had asked for compared to what He was willing to give was nothing. What had they asked in His Name? That demons would be subject to them? "Don't rejoice in this," He said. What they asked was nothing. If it were something substantial, He would have told them to rejoice. So it wasn't completely worthless, but it was insignificant compared to the greatness of God's rewards.

The Apostle Paul was certainly not nothing. Yet compared to God, "neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything" (1 Corinthians 3:7). I say this to you and to myself—to both of us—when we ask for temporal things in Christ's name. You have certainly asked for such things. Who doesn't?

Someone sick asks for health. Someone imprisoned asks for freedom. Someone storm-tossed at sea asks for safe harbor. Someone facing an enemy asks for victory. All ask in Christ's name, yet what they ask for is nothing. What should we ask for then? "Ask in My Name." Jesus didn't specify what, but from His words we understand what we should request.

"Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be complete. Ask and you will receive in My Name." But what should we ask for? Not nothing, but "that your joy may be complete" (John 16:24). Ask for what will satisfy you. When you ask for temporal things, you ask for nothing. "Whoever drinks this water will be thirsty again" (John 4:13). You lower the bucket of desire into the well and draw up water to drink, only to thirst again.

"Ask, that your joy may be complete." Ask to be satisfied, not just temporarily delighted. Ask for what will be enough. Speak like Philip: "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us" (John 14:8). The Lord replies, "Have I been with you so long, and you still don't know Me? Philip, whoever has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).

Give thanks to Christ, who became weak for you in your weakness. Prepare your desires for Christ's divine nature, to find complete fulfillment in Him.