When we sin, we tend to run to one of two extremes.

Because we have let God down, what we need to do is to compensate, to get back into God's favour.

Or when we say, well, you know, I know I've let him down, but it doesn't matter.

Two farms of the same reality, both bypassing what the grace of God in the gospel does

that unites us to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hello and welcome to renewing your mind on this Thursday. I'm Lee Webb.

What Dr. Sinclair Ferguson was describing there is the difference between legalism and anti-nomenism.

Both are errors, but both have the same root.

This became a focus of an 18th century schism in the Scottish Church. It was called the Merrow Controversy.

The debate required church leaders to clarify their understanding of the gospel,

and it does the same for us today. Here's Dr. Ferguson.

Now we are continuing our studies in what began as an adventure into the central part of Scotland

to the little town of Ochtararder, and the Ochtararder Creed, and then the famous book, the Marrow of Modern Divinity,

and some of the problems that arise not only in Christian theology, but in Christian living problems

of the question of how do we preach the gospel, how do we offer Christ to sinners,

do we tell them that they need to repent, and then we will offer Christ to them.

Do we deal with the deep-seated problem of legalism, and how do we do that without becoming anti-nomenians?

And I want us to focus in this study on something I've said once or twice in our studies

that I find some people find difficult to take in, that we are all by nature legalists,

and all anti-nomenians are by nature legalists.

We could come at this by a kind of word association test.

So as I read these words, think of what you regard as the word you associate, it might be the opposite word.

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