September 13, 2015 · Revelation 2:12–13

We're Sorry For Licentiousness

To the angel of the church in Pergamum write. These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. I know where you live — where Satan has his throne. Yet you remained true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city, where Satan lives.

“He's like, it's not about what you do or what you give. It's actually about your faith in God. And if you have faith in God, that's what saves you. You don't need any institution to save you, right? … And that's what actually brings you the freedom from your sin. Now, he took the stand of faith alone, and quickly some people took it and started pushing it further. I mean, we talked about this earlier in the series, where one of the dangers the church has, and we have to say sorry for, is legalism. Making too many rules. That was a big danger in the church. The other danger is to go the opposite way. And basically what he had to deal with was this idea of people just saying, the law — there's no laws for Christians. There's no rules. Throw away the Ten Commandments. There's nothing. It's just, you do what you want in God. There's a freedom from the law, in that sense. And what Luther ended up calling it was antinomianism. Against the law. So you can say to Christians, you shouldn't do that, because that's law, that's wrong. Meanwhile the New Testament's full of Paul and Jesus and everyone saying, hey, don't do that, that hurts you. So when you believe in faith alone, it doesn't equal antinomianism. We are, in that sense, free from the law. The law doesn't save us. But grace doesn't mean licentiousness is okay. The fact that God loves us and has freed us through grace doesn't mean you can just do whatever you want. Salvation by faith alone in Jesus does not mean that you can do whatever you want.”