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Law
Legalism
Sometimes we
tend to be amazed (and even snicker) at the minutia of Pharisaic legalism. We
tend to forget
however
that sandwiched among our country’s sound and workable
statutes
there are hundreds of cockeyed ordinances that remain to clutter up
our law books because the powers-that-be-from state legislators to town
fathers-have not gotten around to repealing them. For instance
in
Legalism
The sin of
the Pharisees was paying attention to outward demonstrations of piety for
appearance’s sake rather than giving attention to inward obedience. This can be
well illustrated by two eggs. One egg is a normal raw egg that
when placed
under the palm of the hand and pressed evenly cannot be broken because of the
structure of the egg itself. The second egg is exactly the same on the outside
but its insides have been removed. When it is placed under the same palm
pressure
it breaks easily because it is internally weak. So
too
one who
gives himself to the sin of the Pharisees is empty of substance and will
eventually crack under pressure.
Legalism
The attitude
one has toward doing what has to be done determines if the action is
legalistic. An illustration makes this clear:
“A serious athlete has to
keep training rules. Most athletes are glad to keep them
rigid as they may be
for the sheer love of the sport. A few athletes conform to make the team and
glorify
show off
self. The former attitude is love
and the latter is
legalism
but both attitudes are toward the same rigid code
and both result in
conformity. Having to conform to a law is not of itself legalism.”—Charles C.
Ryie
Law
A law is a set pattern of
how things happen; it is rule. The law of gravity deems that a heavy slab of
concrete will remain where it is placed. Thus sidewalks stay in place. But we
all have seen a sidewalk that is heaved up and twisted because once a small
acorn fell between the slabs of the sidewalk and now has grown into a massive
oak tree whose roots are powerful enough to move great weights.
That is what is meant by
the triumph of one law over another-such as the law of life over the law of sin
and death (Rom. 8:2). ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Law
A man lived in another
country whose laws were such that one could not walk on the sidewalks after
6:00 P.M. Eventually this man moved to the United States. After arriving here he
decided to see the sights and so went for a long walk. Suddenly he realized it
was getting close to 6:00 P.M. and he was far from where he was staying. In
desperation
he stopped a stranger who was getting into an automobile and in
halting English said
“Please
sir
help me! It is almost six and I am too far
from my hotel to walk back before I will be arrested. Can you give me a ride?”
The stranger at first was
confused but then realized that the man was new to the United States and so
said to him
“Sir
let me assure you that in the United States we do not arrest
people for being out after six.”
This man knew he was in the
United States
but he had not cast off his obedience to the laws of his old
country and so was still being controlled by what no longer had any
jurisdiction over him. He was a free man
needlessly bound to the rules and
regulations of his former life. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Effect of Law
The Flagship Hotel in
Houston
Texas
is built right next to the water. Large plate-glass windows
adorn the dining room
which is on the lowest floor. However
the windows kept
getting broken by guests fishing from the balconies above. Heavy sinkers had to
be used to cast to the water
but the lines were often too short and so would
crash against the windows below. Finally the management removed the “NO
FISHIING FROM BALCONY” signs from the rooms. The windows were safe at last.
The law always bears fruit
in disobedience. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical
Preaching》
Function of Law
Many people are
physiologically sensitive to chocolate. Certain of the larger benzene compounds
present in chocolate are resisted by their bodies through an allergic reaction.
Depending on the individual
this reaction may range from very mild
producing
a minor skin rash
to very severe
producing medical shock and death. Chocolate
is fatal for some persons not because chocolate is poisonous in and of itself
but because of the biochemical makeup of their bodies.
In a similar way
the power
of sin in man reacts to the law and brings death. As Paul says in Romans
7:7~12
this happens not because the law is evil but because of sin within us. ──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Grace and Law
An Indian pastor in
Oklahoma was going to a pastors’ conference. He went to the train station and
caught a train to a mansion where the conference was being held. The theme of
the conference was “Law and Grace.” The Indian pastor listened intently to the
lengthy theological discussions and arguments presented by each seminar leader.
Finally
in a group-discussion period
he said
“It seems to me the train
station we all came in at demonstrates law
and this house we are meeting in
grace. At the station was a sign ‘Do not spit
’ yet the men there did. Here
there is no sign
yet no one spits. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Grace and Law
The Law says
“Do this and
live.” It commands but gives us neither feet nor hands.
Grace bids us to fly and
gives us wings. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical
Preaching》
Purpose of Law
A plumb line can only prove
that a crooked wall is crooked. No matter how you use it
a plumb line can’t
make a crooked wall straight. The law was God’s plumb line
designed to show
all people that they are crooked
or sinful. It was never intended to make us
straight or righteous-and
indeed
it never could. ──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Purpose of Law
If you set aside a glass of
water with dirt and garbage in it and left it undisturbed for a few days
the
particles would settle to the bottom of the glass so that the water would begin
to look drinkable. However
we all know that it would still be dangerous to
drink
even though that wasn’t readily evident. If you took a sterile spoon and
stirred the water
it would become readily evident that the water was not
clean.
The law is like the sterile
spoon-though perfect in itself
it was intended to make evident to us the true
nature that exists within us. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Purpose of Law
One of the biggest flops
the federal government has ever promoted was the Susan B. Anthony dollar.
Literally millions of these coins are stored in the government’s vaults
unused
and unwanted. Even when they were first issued
no one wanted them
and they
soon became the basis for seemingly endless jokes.
However
this rejection was
not universal. A postal worker in one town put up a sign that said
“Susan B.
Anthony dollars: limit of two per customer.” He said he had been previously
trading two or three per day
but when he put the sign up
he traded at least
fifty daily.
That is exactly what the
law does to us. It makes desirable what was undesirable before. ──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Ten Commandments
Somebody once figured out that we have
thirty-five million laws trying to enforce ten commandments. ──
Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Christian Liberty
Fire
depending on how it is used
can
be either beneficial or destructive. When used correctly
it can warm a house
cook food
and create a romantic evening with your spouse. However
when fire
is used incorrectly
it can lay waste to woodlands
destroy houses
or even
devastate an entire city.
Christian liberty is the same. When
used correctly
it can be extremely beneficial
but when used incorrectly
it
has great potential for destruction. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Christian Liberty
Sometimes
when you enter a main
highway or come to an intersection
you will see a sign with the word “YIELD”
in large letters. The sign means that the driver on one road is to yield the
right to proceed to any driver on the other road. The latter driver does not
own the right of way
rather
another driver yields it to him.
This is an excellent picture of what
Christian liberty is all about. We are to yield our right so that others may go
on to greater maturity. No one can demand that another believer yield his
rights; rather
as an act of maturity
he should see the need to give up his
rights for the good of another. Perhaps we should make yield signs and put them
up in our homes and churches-because it is a Christian philosophy to yield
to
give way to other believers. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical
Preaching》
Christian Liberty
If the law states that one may drive
Christian Liberty
When a man is released from prison
he
is not free to do anything he feels like doing
but he is free to obey the law.
In the same way
when we are freed from sin by trusting in Christ
we are not
given a license to sin
but rather are set free to obey him. ── Michael P.
Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Christian Liberty
One of the greatest times of turmoil
in the history of the church was the Reformation. Men like Luther
Calvin
and
Zwingli were strong personalities in difficult times. Not a few people in those
days found themselves banished from their ancestral homeland or city because of
their beliefs. In some cases
wars were fought over beliefs and seemingly (to
us) minor doctrinal points.
In a day of fiery personality
conflicts
major doctrinal deviation
and battles at every level
a
lesser-known German theologian
Philipp Melanchthon
summed up Christian
liberty in a superb fashion: “In essentials
unity; in non-essentials
liberty;
in all things
charity.” ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical
Preaching》
Principles vs. Rules
Some people confuse principles with
rules. A principle is something that comes from inside a person. A rule is an
outward restriction. To obey a principle you have to use your mental and moral
powers. To obey a rule you have only to do what the rule says.
Dr. Frank Crane pointed out the
difference neatly: “A rule supports us by the armpits over life’s mountain
passes. A principle makes us surefooted.” ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Spiritual Slavery
Some years ago in Los Angeles a man
was walking down the street with a sign on his shoulders. The front of it said
“I’M A SLAVE FOR CHRIST.” The back of it read
“WHOSE SLAVE ARE YOU?”
That is a good question
because all
of us are slaves to one or the other of two masters-sin or righteousness. We
have no other choices. By the very nature of our humanity
we are made to serve
and to be controlled by forces beyond our power. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
What then? Should we
sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
Romans 6:15.
Some years ago
I had a
little school for young Indian men and women
who came to my home in Oakland
California
from the various tribes in northern Arizona. One of these was a
Navajo young man of unusually keen intelligence. One Sunday evening
he went
with me to our young people's meeting. They were talking about the epistle to
the Galatians
and the special subject was law and grace. They were not very
clear about it
and finally one turned to the Indian and said
"I wonder
whether our Indian friend has anything to say about this."
He rose to his feet and
said
"Well
my friends
I have been listening very carefully
because I
am here to learn all I can in order to take it back to my people. I do not
understand all that you are talking about
and I do not think you do
yourselves. But concerning this law and grace business
let me see if I can
make it clear. I think it is like this. When Mr. Ironside brought me from my
home we took the longest railroad journey I ever took. We got out at Barstow
and there I saw the most beautiful railroad station and hotel I have ever seen.
I walked all around and saw at one end a sign
'Do not spit here.' I looked at
that sign and then looked down at the ground and saw many had spitted there
and before I think what I am doing I have spitted myself. Isn't that strange
when the sign say
'Do not spit here'?
"I come to Oakland
and go to the home of the lady who invited me to dinner today and I am in the
nicest home I have been in. Such beautiful furniture and carpets
I hate to
step on them. I sank into a comfortable chair
and the lady said
'Now
John
you sit there while I go out and see whether the maid has dinner ready.' I look
around at the beautiful pictures
at the grand piano
and I walk all around
those rooms. I am looking for a sign; and the sign I am looking for is
'Do not
spit here
' but I look around those two beautiful drawing rooms
and cannot
find a sign like this. I think 'What a pity when this is such a beautiful home
to have people spitting all over it -- too bad they don't put up a sign!' So I
look all over that carpet
but cannot find that anybody have spitted there.
What a queer thing! Where the sign says
'Do not spit
' a lot of people
spitted. Where there was no sign at all
in that beautiful home
nobody
spitted. Now I understand! That sign is law
but inside the home it is grace.
They love their beautiful home
and they want to keep it clean. They do not
need a sign to tell them so. I think that explains the law and grace
business."
As he sat down
a murmur
of approval went round the room and the leader exclaimed
"I think that is
the best illustration of law and grace I have ever heard."
H. A. Ironside
Illustrations
of Bible Truth
Moody Press
1945
pp. 40-42.
The law is the light that
reveals how dirty the room is
not the broom that sweeps it clean.
Dr. Phil Williams
DTS
1976.
A duck hunter was with a
friend in the wide-open land of southeastern Georgia. Far away on the horizon
he noticed a cloud of smoke. Soon he could hear crackling as the wind shifted.
He realized the terrible truth; a brushfire was advancing
so fast they
couldn't outrun it. Rifling through his pockets
he soon found what he was
looking for--a book of matches. He lit a small fire around the two of them.
Soon they were standing in a circle of blackened earth
waiting for the fire to
come. They didn't have to wait long. They covered their mouths with
handkerchiefs and braced themselves. The fire came near--and swept over them.
But they were completely unhurt
untouched. Fire would not pass where fire
already had passed.
The law is like a
brushfire. I cannot escape it. But if I stand in the burned-over place
not a
hair of my head will be singed. Christ's death has disarmed it.
Adapted from Who Will
Deliver Us? by Paul F. M. Zahl.
According to a 3rd century
rabbi
Moses gave 365 prohibitions and 248 positive commands. David reduced
them to 11 in Psalm 15. Isaiah made them 6 (Isaiah 33:14
15). Micah 6:8 binds
them into 3 commands. Habbakuk reduces them all to one great statement: The
just shall live by faith.
Source Unknown.
One winter a resort in
Breckenridge
Colorado
posted signs instructing skiers to keep off a certain
slope. The signs
large and distinct
said
"DANGER! OUT OF BOUNDS!"
In spite of the warnings
however
several skiers went into the area. The result?
A half-mile-wide avalanche buried four of the trespassers beneath tons of snow
and rock. This tragedy never would have happened if the signs had been
heeded.
Daily Bread
September 10
1990.
A husband and wife didn't
really love each other. The man was very demanding
so much so that he prepared
a list of rules and regulations for his wife to follow. He insisted that she
read them over every day and obey them to the letter. Among other things
his
"do's and don'ts" indicated such details as what time she had to get
up in the morning
when his breakfast should be served
and how the housework
should be done. After several long years
the husband died.
As time passed
the woman
fell in love with another man
one who dearly loved her. Soon they were
married. This husband did everything he could to make his new wife happy
continually showering her with tokens of his appreciation. One day as when was
cleaning house
she found tucked away in a drawer the list of commands her
first husband had drawn up for her. As she looked it over
it dawned on her
that even though her present husband hadn't given her any kind of list
she was
doing everything her first husband's list required anyway. She realized she was
so devoted to this man that her deepest desire was to please him out of love
not obligation.── Source Unknown.
A story is told about
Fiorello LaGuardia
who
when he was mayor of New York City during the worst
days of the Great Depression and all of WWII
was called by adoring New Yorkers
'the Little Flower' because he was only five foot four and always wore a
carnation in his lapel. He was a colorful character who used to ride the New
York City fire trucks
raid speakeasies with the police department
take entire
orphanages to baseball games
and whenever the New York newspapers were on
strike
he would go on the radio and read the Sunday funnies to the kids.
One bitterly cold night in
January of 1935
the mayor turned up at a night court that served the poorest
ward of the city. LaGuardia dismissed the judge for the evening and took over
the bench himself. Within a few minutes
a tattered old woman was brought
before him
charged with stealing a loaf of bread. She told LaGuardia that her
daughter's husband had deserted her
her daughter was sick
and her two
grandchildren were starving. But the shopkeeper
from whom the bread was
stolen
refused to drop the charges. "It's a real bad neighborhood
your
Honor." the man told the mayor. "She's got to be punished to teach
other people around here a lesson." LaGuardia sighed. He turned to the
woman and said "I've got to punish you. The law makes no exceptions--ten
dollars or ten days in jail."
But even as he pronounced
sentence
the mayor was already reaching into his pocket. He extracted a bill
and tossed it into his famous sombrero saying: "Here is the ten dollar
fine which I now remit; and furthermore I am going to fine everyone in this
courtroom fifty cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so
that her grandchildren can eat. Mr. Baliff
collect the fines and give them to
the defendant." So the following day the New York City newspapers reported
that $47.50 was turned over to a bewildered old lady who had stolen a loaf of
bread to feed her starving grandchildren
fifty cents of that amount being
contributed by the red-faced grocery store owner
while some seventy petty
criminals
people with traffic violations
and New York City policemen
each of
whom had just paid fifty cents for the privilege of doing so
gave the mayor a
standing ovation.
Brennan Manning
The
Ragmuffin Gospel
Multnomah
1990
pp. 91-2.
Professional golfer Tommy
Bolt was playing in Los Angeles and had a caddy with a reputation of constant
chatter. Before they teed off
Bolt told him
"Don't say a word to me. And
if I ask you something
just answer yes or no."
During the round
Bolt
found the ball next to a tree
where he had to hit under a branch
over a lake
and onto the green. He got down on his knees and looked through the trees and
sized up the shot.
"What do you
think?" he asked the caddy. "Five-iron?"
"No
Mr. Bolt
"
the caddy said.
"What do you mean
not a five-iron?" Bolt snorted. "Watch this shot."
The caddy rolled his eyes.
"No-o-o
Mr. Bolt."
But Bolt hit it and the
ball stopped about two feet from the hole. He turned to his caddy
handed him
the five-iron and said
"Now what do you think about that? You can talk
now."
"Mr. Bolt
" the
caddy said
"that wasn't your ball."
Crossroads
Issue No. 7
pp. 15-16.
In Lexington
Ky.
there
is an ordinance forbidding anyone to carry an ice-cream cone in his pocket.
In Waterloo
Nebr.
barbers are forbidden to eat onions between seven a.m. and seven p.m.
In the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts it is against the law to eat peanuts in church or to use tomatoes
in making clam chowder.
In Kansas an old law
states that you cannot eat snakes on Sunday or rattlesnake meat in public.
In Los Angeles you cannot
bathe two babies in the same tub at the same time.
In Zion
Ill.
it is
illegal for anyone to give lighted cigars to dogs
cats and other domesticated
animals kept as pets.
In Carmel
N.Y.
a man
can't go outside while wearing a jacket and pants that do not match.
In Gary
Ind.
persons are
prohibited from attending a movie house or other theater and from riding a
public streetcar within four hours of eating garlic.
In Hartford
Conn.
you
aren't allowed to cross a street while walking on your hands.
In Baltimore
its illegal
to take a lion to the movies.
In Nicholas County
W.
Va.
no member of the clergy is allowed to tell jokes or humorous stories from
the pulpit during a church service.
In Carrizozo
N.M.
it's
forbidden for a female to appear unshaven in public (includes legs and face).
In New Jersey a person can
be arrested for slurping soup in a public restaurant.
A citizen may not carry a
lunch pail on the public streets in Riverside
Calif.
In Oklahoma you cannot
take a bite of another person's hamburger.
In Green
N.Y.
you cannot
eat peanuts and walk backwards on the sidewalks while a concert is on.
In Houston
Tex.
the law
stipulates that you cannot buy rye bread
goose liver or Limburger cheese on
Sunday
and if you do
you can not take it out.
A Lynn
Mass.
ordinance states
babies may not be given coffee to drink.
In Winona Lake
Ind.
it
is illegal to eat ice cream at a counter on Sunday.
It is against the law for
Nebraska tavern owners to sell beer unless they have a kettle of soup brewing.
According to an old Detroit
law
banana peels are not to be thrown in the streets for fear of injury to
horses.
In Connecticut pickles
which
when dropped 12 inches
collapse in their own juice are illegal. They
must remain whole and even bounce.
In Corvallis
Oreg.
young
ladies are not allowed to drink coffee after six o'clock in the evening.
In Lehigh Nebr. it is
against the law to sell doughnut holes.
In Richmond
Va.
it is
illegal to match coins in public restaurants to see who pays for the coffee.
In Baltimore
Md.
"Only
pure unadulterated
unsophisticated and wholesome milk" may be sold.
Campus Life
March
1973.
Sign in the middle of the
Royal Gorge bridge in Colorado
the tallest suspension bridge in the world
rising 1053 feet above the water level: "No Fishing From This
Bridge."
Source Unknown.
People who love sausage
and respect the law should never watch either one being made.
Reader's Digest
May
1980.
Evangelist Fred Brown used
three images to describe the purpose of the law. First he likened it to a
dentist's little mirror
which he sticks into the patient's mouth. With the
mirror he can detect any cavities. But he doesn't drill with it or use it to
pull teeth. It can show him the decayed area or other abnormality
but it can't
provide the solution. Brown then drew another analogy. He said that the law is
also like a flashlight. If suddenly at night the lights go out
you use it to
guide you down the darkened basement stairs to the electrical box. When you
point it toward the fuses
it helps you see the one that is burned out. But
after you've removed the bad fuse
you don't try to insert the flashlight in
its place. You put in a new fuse to restore the electricity. In his third
image
Brown likened the law to a plumbline. When a builder wants to check his
work
he uses a weighted string to see if it's true to the vertical. But if he
finds that he has made a mistake
he doesn't use the plumbline to correct it.
He gets out his hammer and saw. The law points out the problem of sin; it doesn't
provide a solution.
Fred Brown.