Lawlessness is rampant in the world. We can be thankful if
we live in a county where the rule of law prevails and
lawlessness is kept somewhat under control.
But Jesus is referring to lawlessness in the church!
Persecution would come. “And then many will be offended, will
betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false
prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because
lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But
he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24:10-13).
This prediction has been fulfilled: many false prophets
have arisen; they have deceived many; lawlessness does
abound; and the love of many has grown cold.
What is lawlessness?
Lawlessness is a customary disregard of laws. A lawless
person has little respect for law and refuses to be restricted by
it.
We witnessed an annoying example of lawlessness when
we visited Carlsbad Caverns in the United States. In front of us,
a young woman, in her twenties, rubbed her hand on every
cave formation she could reach, although, and probably
because, a sign said not to touch the formations.
Although everyone has violated laws, not everyone is
lawless in this sense.
A law-abiding person wants to obey the law, but
sometimes falls short. Every driver, for example, exceeds the
speed limit at times. A lawless person ignores the speed limit!
Why does lawlessness cause love to grow cold?
Jesus said: “Because
lawlessness will abound, the love of
many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). And indeed the love of
many has grown cold.
This is inevitable because lawlessness and love are not
compatible. Lawlessness is a form of self-indulgence, and love
is not self-indulgent. Love “does not seek its own” (1
Corinthians 13:5).
Lawlessness betrays a lack of love.
When Jesus was asked, “Which is the first commandment
of all?” (Mark 12:28) He replied, “‘You shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your
mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the
second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On
these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets”
(Matthew 22:37-40). By rejecting God’s law, a lawless person
also rejects the love on which God’s law is based.
Lawlessness betrays a lack of love for God.
“The LORD is our Lawgiver” (Isaiah 33:22).
How can a lawless person (who scorns law) love the
Lawgiver?
Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments”
(John 14:15) and “He who does not love Me does not keep My
words” (John 14:24). John explained: “Whoever keeps His
word, truly the love of God is perfected in him” (1 John 2:5).
“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.
And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3).
God’s commandments are not burdensome for someone
who loves God because he wants to please God.
To a lawless person, however, God’s commandments are
burdensome, because he does not love God, has no desire to
please Him, and dislikes restrictions that conflict with his own
desires.
Lawlessness betrays a lack of love for man.
“Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the
fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10).
A lawless speeder lacks love for others on the road, lacks
love for others in his car, and lacks love for those who love
him.
God’s law is based on love. God has declared evil to be
unlawful because it is harmful to man. God loves man and
wants to protect him from harm.
A lawless person considers his own desires more
important than the welfare of others.
Lawlessness results in immorality and evil practices.
“We know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully,
knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person,
but for the
lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for
sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers
and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for
sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers” (1 Timothy
1:8-10).
Someone who loves God and man concurs with God’s law
and strives to live a godly life. He recognizes God’s law as good
because it is based on love and protects man from evil.
The lawless person, however, rebels against God’s law
because he does not have the love of God in his heart, he gives
priority to his own desires, and has little concern for the
welfare of others.
Lawlessness results in false religions.
One might suppose that religious people would not be
lawless. But what did Jesus say to the religious leaders of His
time? “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you
are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful
outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all
uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to
men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and
lawlessness”
(Matthew 23:27, 28).
Lawlessness leads, not only to immorality, but also to
wrong religious practices. To these same religious people Jesus
said: “Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:
‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me
with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they
worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’”
(Matthew 15:7-9).
Lawlessness results in worthless worship. Lawless religious
people deceive themselves into thinking they are serving God
when actually they are serving the lawless one. They are in the
habit of serving God, not according to His word, but according
to their own wishes.
Jesus warned: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of
My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord,
Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons
in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And
then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me,
you who practice
lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
Thus, people who are very religious can reject God’s law
to follow traditions, their own desires or the spirit of the times.
Their zealous religious practices are lawless if they do not
comply with the word of God.
There can even be lawless people in God’s kingdom. But
on judgment day they will be removed. “The Son of Man will
send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all
things that offend, and those who practice
lawlessness, and will
cast them into the furnace of fire” (Matthew 13:41, 42).
Christ came to redeem us from lawless deeds.
“Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might
redeem us from every
lawless deed and purify for Himself His
own special people, zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14).
Why is this redemption necessary? “Whoever commits sin
also commits
lawlessness, and sin is
lawlessness” (1 John 3:4).
Everyone has sinned (Romans 3:23). Thus everyone has
committed lawless deeds, whether lawlessness is for him a way
of life or something he strives to avoid.
Because Jesus “loved righteousness and hated
lawlessness” (Hebrews 1:9), He allowed Himself to be crucified
to redeem us from lawless deeds by paying the penalty for our
sins.
To accept this grace we must give up our former lawless
ways and serve Christ. “For just as you presented your
members as slaves of uncleanness, and of
lawlessness leading
to more
lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves
of righteousness for holiness” (Romans 6:19).
Through baptism we are united with the death, burial and
resurrection of Christ: “Therefore we were buried with Him
through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from
the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law.
Law condemns everyone because no one keeps law
perfectly (Galatians 3:10-12). “Christ has redeemed us from
the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is
written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’)” (Galatians
3:13).
Christians have been freed from “the law of sin and death”
by “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:2).
“For what the law could not do in that it was weak through
the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in
us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the
Spirit” (Romans 8:3, 4).
Thus, as we strive to keep the law, we must understand
that we cannot be saved by law-keeping, but only by the grace
of God, which He extends to those who have a living, obedient
faith, to those who walk according to the Spirit.
Christians serve God under the “law of Christ” (1
Corinthians 9:21; Galatians 6:2). They are guided and judged
by “the law of liberty” (James 1:25; 2:12), a law in which
“Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13).
The Christian’s freedom from the curse of the law, does
not mean however that he may be lawless! “For you, brethren,
have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an
opportunity for the flesh” (Galatians 5:13).
Just as it is wrong to think that salvation can be earned by
law-keeping - “You have become estranged from Christ, you
who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace”
(Galatians 5:4) - it is also wrong to “turn the grace of our God
into licentiousness” (Jude 4 NASB), by thinking that salvation is
possible by faith only (see James 2:24).
The Scriptures warn us about lawless influences.
We may not attach ourselves to lawless people. “Do not
be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what
fellowship has righteousness with
lawlessness? And what
communion has light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14).
Because of lawlessness, many Christians fall away. Paul
wrote: “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will
not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of
sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts
himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped” (2
Thessalonians 2:3, 4).
This great apostasy began at the close of the first century
(1 John 2:18) and is called “the mystery of
lawlessness” (2
Thessalonians 2:7). This apostasy still exists: the great
majority of those who call themselves Christians, do not follow
Christ.
Satan is behind these lawless influences: “Then the
lawless one will be revealed.” ... “The coming of the
lawless
one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs
and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are
perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be
saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:8, 9, 10 ESV).
We must resist lawless influences.
What have we learned?
“Because
lawlessness will abound, the love of many will
grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). Lawlessness is contempt for law.
Lawlessness displaces love. They who love Jesus keep His
commandments. The lawless one rebels against God’s law.
Many religious people are full of lawlessness. Their worship is
worthless. Christ came that He might redeem us from lawless
deeds and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for
good works.
May our love for God’s law increase.
With the Psalmist let us say: “Oh, how I love Your law! It
is my meditation all the day” (Psalm 119:97). “Great peace
have those who love Your law, and nothing causes them to
stumble” (Psalm 119:165). Amen.
