Good Or Evil? Mark 3:1-8

Text: “And He (Jesus) saith unto them, ‘Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil...?'”

Mark 3:4.

Good morning, Spirit-led Christian!  Being made free from the letter of the law by Christ Jesus, you walk at perfect liberty in the paths of the Holy Spirit - happy indeed are you!  Your own personal, Spiritually regenerated, conscience determines your actions, not some rigid list of dos and don’ts - and that’s how the Lord God always intended it to be.  Amen!  (2 Corinthians 3:3-6)

The letter of the Mosaic Law killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.  But what exactly does such a Scripture verse mean?  More precisely, what does it mean for your Christian life and for mine?  What understanding of God’s Way does such a statement impart?

Our Bible-reading for today furnishes us with the answer - learn the lesson and live at liberty in God the Holy Spirit.  (Romans 8:1-14) Amen.

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”  (Romans 8:2)

God gave the Law to Moses for one profound reason - to show His called-out people that they, by their own efforts, could not keep God’s Commandments; to reveal unto their rebellious hearts how short humankind has fallen, and will always fall, of God’s perfectly righteous standard, as manifested, exclusively, in the Person of His Son Jesus Christ.

Since Adam and Eve sinned through disobedience in Eden - all born in their fallen image have fallen short of God’s glory; fallen short of the original glory God gave His perfect human creation on the sixth day. 

“...There is none righteous, no not one...there is no difference; for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God...”   (Romans 3:10;22-23) (Psalm 51:5) (Job 14:1-4)

If mankind were capable of keeping the Law of God, Christ would not have had to suffer for us on Calvary’s Cross.  It’s as profoundly simple as that.  (2 Corinthians 5:21) (John 3:16)

Once regenerated, or born again of God above, in Christ Jesus, and through faith in His Atonement at the Cross, we are indwelt by God the Holy Spirit, and He guides us into all truth.  (John 14:26) (John 16:7-15)

Therefore, we are no longer under bondage of the Law of Moses, we are led rather by the Spirit of God, to do what pleases God, in Christ, according to His Word revealed to us in our Bibles.  (Romans 6:6-18)

“For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” (Romans 6:14)

By faith we enter into co-Crucifixion with Christ on the Cross, that is, our old sinful natures are nailed to Christ’s Cross by faith, and we seek to live in newness of life by the power of God’s Spirit contained in the new nature God gives us when we are saved.  (John 14:16-17)

This does not mean we never sin again.  But WHEN we do sin, we immediately discern the weight of sin’s conviction and turn from it to repentance and progressive sanctification.  Thus, we are indeed FREE!  Hallelujah!  We now know the Truth (Christ Jesus) and the Truth makes us free.  What a Saviour!   What grace indeed!  (John 8:32)

Our anti-Christian enemies will always seek to find fault in us, and there are plenty of faults to find in each of us.  But there is no fault to be found in Christ Jesus, our Saviour/Lord.

J.C. Ryle Comments:

“These verses show us our Lord again working a miracle. He heals a man in the synagogue, “which had a withered hand.” Always about His Father’s business, —always doing good, —doing it in the sight of enemies as well as of friends, —such was the daily tenor of our Lord’s earthly ministry. And He “left us an example that we should follow His steps.” (1 Peter 2: 21.) Blessed indeed are those Christians who strive, however feebly, to imitate their Master!

“Let us observe in these verses, how our Lord Jesus Christ was watched by His enemies. We read that “they watched Him, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath Day, that they might accuse Him.”

“What a melancholy proof we have here of the wicked­ness of human nature! It was the Sabbath Day, when these things happened. It was in the synagogue, where men were assembled to hear the word and worship God. Yet even on the day of God, and at the time of worshipping God, these wretched formalists were plotting mischief against our Lord. The very men who pre­tended to such strictness and sanctity in little things, were full of malicious and angry thoughts in the midst of the congregation. (Proverbs 5:14)

“Christ’s people must not expect to fare better than their master. They are always watched by an ill-natured and spiteful world. Their conduct is scanned with a keen and jealous eye. Their ways are noted and diligently observed. They are marked men. They can do nothing without the world noticing it. Their dress, their expenditure, their employment of time, their con­duct in all the relations of life, are all rigidly and closely remarked. Their adversaries wait for their halting, and if at any time they fall into an error, the ungodly rejoice.”  (J.C. Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels 1816-1900)

Go to, then, Spirit-led Christian.  As the Lord leads, seek always to do good and not evil.

Thought: For Spirit-led believers – in a sense, there is no Law!  (1 Timothy 1:9-11)