This episode continues the focus on God's lovingkindness that leads to repentance. A balanced preaching of the gospel always includes the demand to repent. Coupled with the convicting work of the Spirit, godly sorrow leads to repentance without regret. (2 Corinthians 7:10) The Holy Spirit also leads people to repent by imparting on the soul a sense of God's unmerited kindnesses. The evangelist ideally follows the Holy Spirit's leading in "wounding the conscience" (Acts 2:38), while bringing out the gracious character of God in His care of us when we deserve the opposite. The episode concludes with an exhortation to be living epistles of God's lovingkindness. The evangelist himself/herself should be the embodiment of the grace extended to all. So just as God is "kind to ungrateful and evil people," so the evangelist should be gracious to ALL, ready to bless.
We NEED Grace!
This final episode challenges believers to evaluate their reliance on the grace of God. While many give lip service to depending on God's grace, the absence of prayer and regular reading of Scripture strongly suggest many are, in large part, self-reliant Christians. Many moreover have a simplistic view of grace mostly about the forgiveness of sins and less about the power of God to live holy before Him. Forgiven, but not victorious, self-reliant Christians indicate a shallow understanding of grace that doesn't grasp the dire need for empowering grace. When believers adopt a veritable "grace not needed" posture, God often intervenes with trials and tribulations designed to foster renewed dependence and faith in God. Mature Christians really believe, as the psalmist says, that they have no good besides God (Psalm 16:2), and dependence on that grace is not optional.
Graciously Grant Me Your Law
This episode emphasizes the necessity of God's grace for sanctification and the keeping of God's law. The law is an excellent mirror, revealing the disconnect between ourselves and a holy God. It is nevertheless powerless to transform us and sanctify us, since we are fundamentally sinful apart from God's grace. Paul highlights this fact in Romans 8:3, "what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did.." The law reveals our weakness and our desperate need for Christ. It is the "tutor that leads us to Christ." (Gal. 3:24) Christians commonly acknowledge dependence on the grace of God in conversion and infancy in Christ, but trip up later when they revert to relying on their flesh, apart from grace. This was my experience, and I testify how God overthrew my smug self-reliance and gave me a sense of my utter dependence on His power. This gracious power transforms us, helping us keep the law. "I will run the way of your commandments, for you will enlarge my heart." (Psalm 119:32)
Sanctifying Grace: Faith Working through Love
This episode contrasts the inadequacy of the law to perfect the believer with "faith working through love." Paul effectively says that emphasis on circumcision is a moot point: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything but faith working through love." (Gal. 5:6) Sanctification by appealing to the law is a hopeless endeavor, however sanctification directed by the Spirit leads to the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) and is aptly described as "faith working through love." This total trust and dependence on God describes walking by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16) and this is the stream by which empowering grace floods the soul. So what would occur if a believer reverts to the law as the means of sanctification? The tributaries of God's grace are damned up by appeal to the works of the law. Faith in God is replaced with fleshly works, which naturally appeal to the works of the law as the ground of justification. God's unmerited favor is set aside, rendered ineffective because it's not invited. "Fallen from grace" and "severed from Christ" both describe believers who presumptuously think they can live the Christian life without empowering grace, that their own power is sufficient. Interestingly, Paul's inclusion of sins of the flesh in Gal. 5:19-21 comes after Paul's indictment of Galatian legalism, almost suggesting that appeal to the law as the means of sanctification actually makes one's condition worse. Paul's focus on sanctification in chapter 5 underscores the conclusion that Paul is principally concerned with Galatian rejection of sanctifying grace, not the justifying grace of salvation.
The Wine of Grace and Old Wineskins
"This episode focuses on the verbs used in Galatians 5:4, ""you have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace."" Building on the previous program, in which the grace spoke of in Galatians mostly centers on the grace of sanctification, not justification, Paul is concerned that believers are cutting themselves off from the primary means of perfection, Christ Himself. He previously queried about them, ""having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?"" (Gal. 3:3) The issue then is subsequent sanctification, in which we mature by continuing to rely on Christ. The Galatians who embraced circumcision sought to justify themselves by the works of the law instead of continuing to follow the leading of the Spirit in sanctification. Their embrace of circumcision instead of the grace of sanctification meant that they were unnecessarily cutting themselves off from perfecting grace. ""Severed"" here is translated from ""katergeo,"" which means estranged, alienated or rendered powerless. The verb translated ""fallen,"" [""ekpipto""] signifies losing one's grasp on something. The Galatians have therefore lost their grasp on the grace of God and alienated themselves from the power of God to perfect them. As a result of relying on the woks of the law instead of the grace of God, they have rendered powerless the grace available to them. Paul consequently tells them that if they receive circumcision Christ will not benefit them. (Gal. 5:2) Christ alluded to the incompatibility of works of the law with grace in his metaphor on wineskins. (Mark 2:22)"
Are You Still on Milk?
This episode challenges believers not to adopt a welfare mentality towards Christian growth, in which the principal means of grace are neglected. The Word of God, prayer, and corporate worship are the mediated means of grace essential to Christian growth. The author of Hebrews decried the welfare mentality of his recipients: "By this time you OUGHT to be teachers... you have come to need milk and not solid food." This spirit of dependency that doesn't advance to maturity manifests among modern Christians who neglect Scripture, prayer, and corporate worship. Grace is mistakenly viewed as unmediated, coming directly from God, so diligence in cultivating the MEANS of grace is not an urgent priority. This childish welfare mentality describes many American Christians, whose only encounter with God's Law is negative, void of the positive cravings for the Law experienced by the psalmist in Psalm 119. The clear application of Psalm 119 for Christians is the diligent embrace of God's Law resulting in delight. The psalmist's attitude was the antithesis of the welfare mentality common today.
The Law Expresses the “Beauty of Holiness”
This episode is a recap of the previous week's teaching on Psalm 119, emphasizing the common threads of God's work in establishing our way, ultimately leading to a genuinely positive delight in God's law. Since the law is a reflection of God's character and beauty, love of God coupled with disdain for God's Law is inconceivable. While true believers would never seek to justify themselves by keeping God's Law, they nevertheless delight in that Law based on being born again. Romans 7:22 affirms that they "delight with the Law of God in the inner man." The episode closes with Jonathan Edwards' phraseology describing believers' delight in God's holiness described in the Law. Christians alone can apprehend the "beauty of holiness."
Grace to Repent
In addition to describing the psalmist's dependence on the grace of God to repent and embrace God's way, this episode addresses the underlying struggle to repent. We depend on the grace of God to repent because, based on our fleshly sympathies, we really don't believe that God's ways are better. 1 John 5:3 states that God's commands are not burdensome. This is utter nonsense to the flesh since "commandments" restrict "freedom." The voice of the flesh understands freedom as the ability to do whatever pleases the flesh without incurring negative consequences. We consequently need God's grace to enlarge our hearts (32) to consider "commandments" as the path of true freedom. When we come under the commandments we discover true freedom: "I will walk at liberty for I seek your precepts." (45) And, with the grace of God, we see the destructive nature of "libertine" freedom. The flesh promises the world but conceals a harvest from hell. One application of Psalm 119 to NT Christian life is the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, Who applies grace to our lives to assist us in repenting. We discover that God's commandments are NOT burdensome and that sin amounts to slavery. "Everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin." (John 8:34)