John 5:45 Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust.
Most of the first century Jews trusted in
Moses. They trusted in the Torah to help
them find eternal life and right standing before God. The scribes and the Pharisees were scriptural
and hermeneutical experts. They even used the Torah to justify that Jesus was
not their Messiah (John 7:47-49.) So then, the history of both Judaism and
Christianity is filled with examples of people who trusted and rested in the
scripture but were just plain wrong. Remember the Pharisees words, “have any of
the scribes and Pharisees believed in him?--- but, this crowd who does not know
the Law is accursed.” They were confident after rigorous scripture study that
Jesus could not be the Messiah. If you
check out John 7:40-42 you will find that there too, they ruled out Jesus as
Messiah because of the reading of the Torah, and interestingly, John 7:39
explains that the Holy Spirit had not yet been given.
On the other hand, Jesus and his followers
taught that the Spirit not the scripture would lead one into all truth, and
would bring out of the inner being rivers of living water (John 7:38.) If you
fast forward to the twenty-first century you find within evangelical
fundamental orthodoxy all to many… perhaps most… trusting Moses. When you read
the words of John 5:39 through 46 it becomes clear that Jesus could have as easily
been talking to the evangelical, fundamental, orthodox church as he was to the
Jews. Today, the evangelical orthodox church has placed their real trust in
Moses. They claim to be trusting the Spirit, but the real truth is they are
trusting in Moses. They are trusting in the written code.
Most evangelicals believe that the scripture is
so clear on many issues. They believe that it is crystal clear on sin, hell,
marriage, homosexuality, obedience and on and on. Is that really so? I say
unequivocally absolutely not. It may seem crystal clear when one reads it
trusting Moses…. what I mean by that is reading it as a legal constitutional
document that spells out obedience and disobedience. But when one looks at it
through spiritual eyes it is not nearly so clear. The fact is that the
scripture points to Jesus, redemption, and God’s amazing grace. When one views
it that way many of the crystal clear areas become either not clear at all, or
not really germane.
No doubt many will retort with the reminder that
faith without works is dead, or they will ask the question should we sin so
that grace may abound. That is not new… they were saying that in the days of
the apostle Paul. Here is a question that one should ask. What does having
rivers of *living water* flowing from ones innermost being look like? What is
life giving water anyway? I will tell you plain and simply. Life giving water
is the refreshing assurance of God’s grace as shown by the gospel message. God
was in Christ not counting sin against humanity. He made Jesus who knew no sin
to be made sin for us that we might then be made the righteousness of God in
Christ Jesus. That produces the peaceful, life giving rivers of water flowing
from the heart… the inner being. Living waters brings love, joy, peace,
patience, gentleness, kindness, and self control. Yes indeed, the living water
is the fruit of the Spirit.
The fruit of trusting Moses is death!
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