GRACE AND MOSETICAL LAW

1. GRACE VS. LAW?-Is Grace and the Moral Law in Conflict?

2. LEGALISM-What is Legalism and What is an Expected Attempt of Attainment?

GRACE AND THE MOSETICAL LAW

DOES THE GRACE OF CHRIST MAKE VOID OR DISCOUNT THE MORAL LAWS? OR IN OTHER WORDS, DID JESUS CHRIST TEACH THAT IT IS OKAY FOR BELIEVERS TO INTENTIONALLY TRANSGRESS THE COMMANDMENTS?

Grace vs. Law?

Under the New Testament era, which is from the time of Jesus Christ being on earth [I John 4:1-3] until essentially the end of time, a couple of verses tell us what God's requirements are for becoming one of His. Namely, to love the Lord with everything we've got and to love our neighbor as ourselves, our neighbor being anyone that we can do good to. The good we can do should be within Biblical contexts [Proverbs 14:12, Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 22:36-40, I John 3:23, Luke 10:29-37].

We are saved by grace, rather than being able to make it into God's kingdom or to heaven [Luke 17:20,21] by earning it or on our own merit [Romans 3:23, Ephesians 2:8,9]. Earthly things we earn by our own merit, heavenly things we do not [Luke 16:1-13]. Yet there is a "work" that God requires of us in order to escape God's eventual wrath, even if we can't talk, walk, see, hear or do much of anything: we must believe in Jesus Christ and His resurrection [John 6:29, Romans 10: 9-11, Jeremiah 3:13]. The moment that we truly believe in Christ is the instant in which we are converted, or born again [John 3:3-8], which belief can only come about while the Holy Ghost gives us the opportunity to repent our sins, sin being the breaking of, or transgression against, God's commandments [I John 3:4, Genesis 6:3, Psalm 32:1-6, 119:146,94, 69:13, Isaiah 49:8, II Corinthians 6:2, Proverbs 1:23-33, Psalm 34:18].

Being born again is what some people call being saved, but it is actually being converted [Psalm 51:13, Acts 3:19, Isaiah 1:27, 60:5, Matthew 18:3, Ezekiel 36:25-27]. When we believe in Jesus Christ in our heart, we are converted [Romans 10:9,10], but we are not actually saved until we either die in Christ or are raptured [Philippians 3:11-16, Genesis 5:24, II Kings 2:11, I Thessalonians 4:13-17]. There are many instances of converted people turning their backs on the Lord [I Timothy 4:1, II Timothy 4:10, Luke 15:11-32], though it is possible to reunite with Him [Jeremiah 24:7, 36:3, Malachi 3:7, Hosea 14:1,4, Luke 15:11-32, I John 1:8,9, 2:1].

Some believers would have you believe that if you commit sin willfully, that you cannot regain a relationship with Jesus, per Hebrews 6:4-6, 10:26-29, but if that were true, then no mistakes would be allowed at all, nor would the story of the prodigal son, in Luke 15, have been told by Jesus. In this story, the father represents God, while the two sons represent 2 groups of God's people, either Israel and Judah or all of physical Israel and the Gentiles. It could be either, because both Israel and Judah had turned away from God at times. And even though Gentiles were not included as God's people originally, as a whole, He always had grace and acceptance in mind for the Gentiles [Exodus 23:9, 33:19, Isaiah 14:1, Acts 9:15, Romans 3:29, 11:11,13, Revelation 11:2, II Samuel 22:44,45]. But either way, the prodigal son was a child of the Father, was given his share of the inheritance [Acts 26:17,18, Hebrews 9:15], physical goods being representative of a spiritual inheritance, and wasted it all, ending up with nothing. The son wholeheartedly repented and the Father gladly received him again. We are not a true child of God unless we have have been converted, so therefore, if we walk away from the Lord, we can reunite with Him if we come back to Him sincerely. But there is a point of no return [Hebrews 12:17]. If we feel awful for doing things we shouldn't, then that is a good sign that God hasn't forsaken us, or even if just our conscience is pricked [Hebrews 12:5-17]. The verses in Hebrews mean that we only get converted once, because Christ died on the cross, was buried, and was resurrected one time for our sins, not continually [Hebrews 10:12,14, Romans 6:10]. Nehemiah chapter 9 is an example of a people who sinned against the Lord, knowing better, at least deep down, and repented.

The spirit world is what controls the physical world, both good spirits and bad [Romans 1:20, II Corinthians 4:18, I Corinthians 2:8-15, Psalm 104:4, I Peter 5:8, Matthew 18:10]. In order to remain right, we have to know that it is the Holy Ghost telling us what to do and what not to do [I John 4:1-3], because the devil imitates the workings of the Holy Ghost, up to a point, trying to fool us [Jeremiah 7:18, Exodus 33:2, 23:20-25, 7:10-12, 20-22, 8:5-8, 16-19].

When we get converted, it is our soul which gets converted, not the physical part of us [Psalm 19:7]. That part, the soul, cannot sin, though the rest of each of us can [I John 3:4,6,9]. John wrote that he who commits sin is of the devil [v8]. That doesn't necessarily mean being possessed by the devil, but since we are either a child of God or not, it means more precisely, I believe, given over, or accustomed to, sinful ways [Romans 7:14, Leviticus 5:15,17], not always realizing right away that we've sinned. If our bodies, the flesh, were instantly converted, as is the soul, then we would not be taught by the Apostle Paul that we are to keep our sinfully inclined flesh subdued [Romans 5:12, 6:12-14, 16, 17,19, 7:15-21, 23-35], being guided by our inner man [soul[ which is directed by the Holy Ghost [I Corinthians 2:9-16, Hebrews 4:12, John 14:26]. Part of the mind is physical, of course, the brain, and part is intellect, which I believe is part physical and part spiritual. For that reason it is only partly subdued by Christ and His Spirit. And part of the mind is, I believe, influenced by each person's spirit, according to the type of spirit, distinct from the soul, that each person has; a kind, mean, fretting, restless, gentle, cynical, happy, brooding or other type of spirit [Genesis 2:7, I Corinthians 2:11, 13:12, II Corinthians 2:13, 4:16, Romans 8:7, Psalm 106:13, Proverbs 16:17-19, 32, Job 32:8, Ecclesiastes 3:21, Ezekiel 3:14, Mark 14:38, 8:12, Luke 1:17, 10:21, 9:55, Acts 17:16, Galatians 6:1, Ephesians 2:2, 3:16, 4:23, James 2:26, 4:5, Deuteronomy 11:13, Psalm 33:19, Proverbs 11:25, Hebrews 4:12, Isaiah 55:3, 58:10, Luke 21:19, Deuteronomy 6:5, 10:12, 30:6, Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30].

At this point, we can see that we are saved by grace, from our sins [Matthew 1:21], so we might ask, did grace cancel out the keeping of the commandments given by Moses? After all, certain verses indicate that the Mosetical law was given to make us aware of our sins [Galatians 3:19], instilling our need for a Savior [Galatians 3:24], and that the New Testament ushered in a new and living way [Colossians 2:14, Galatians 2:16, 21, 3:11,19,24, 5:3, James 2:10-18, Romans 4:13-16, 5:20], and that unless you can keep the whole law, then it is useless for being righteous [Galatians 3:10]. It's been said that it doesn't matter how you start the race, only how you finish it. So what does the book that shows the end times say? it says in Revelation 14:12 that believers keep the faith of Jesus and the commandments of God, coupled with Luke 21:19.

There are several hundred moral commandments throughout the first five books of the Bible, aside from the ritualistic and ceremonial commandments, and it is impossible to always keep all of them. Paul was blameless amongst his peers as to keeping the physical righteousness of the law of Moses, yet he denounced that as a way to be found righteous before God Almighty and Jesus Christ [Philippians 3:6, 7-9. Romans 7:5,6,8-14, Acts 8:1,3]. So where's the key? It seems like we're destined to be either sinners who don't believe in Christ, or sinners who do believe in Christ.

Abraham is the "father" of all who believe, but why, and how does the law of Moses tie in with grace? Abraham did not know of the law of Moses, because he was way before the time of Moses, yet he believed God and was righteous before him [Romans 4:2,3,11-14]. Abraham was chosen because he had that righteousness which is by faith [Romans 9:30, Hebrews chapter 11], which God foretold of, and which He enables us for, by causing us to want to obey His commandments [Jeremiah 31:33, Hebrews 8:10, Romans 6:17, Matthew 5:27-30, 12:34-37, Genesis 26:5]. Abraham, though not perfect as was Jesus Christ, was righteous before God, and due to a deep reverence for the Almighty, had obesiance to God instilled in his heart [Romans 6:17], as well as having a conscience, which all people are born with [Acts 24:16, Romans 2:15, 9:1, II Corinthians 1:12, I Corinthians 8:10, I Peter 3:16, , I Timothy 4:2, Hebrews 9:14].

We can be too suppressed, and we can be too loose and liberal. Paul teaches us that grace did away with the blood sacrifices and the ritualistic and ceremonial part of the law [Hebrews 9:1-15, 8:7-10], which Gentiles were never explicitly under to begin with [Acts 15:1,5, 8-11,17, 19,20, 21:25]. Gentiles do not have the same yoke that orthodox Jews have always had, yet grace is not a license to sin [Romans 6:1-7, 12-18, 12:1,2, 14:14,15,20,21]. The idea is that the commandments are what God wants us to obey, but He knows that we can't perfectly do so, and therefore the law is to point us to Christ [Galatians 3:6,22,29, 5:13-26].

There are those who will try to put a heavy yoke on you, and we are warned against this, instead relying upon grace and the working of the Holy Ghost, accepting as brethren those who profess belief in Jesus Christ, admonishing, uplifting, praying for and warning as necessary, being aware that we all are subject to falling if we do not strive to go the strait and narrow way [Luke 13:24, Matthew 7:12-23, Ezekiel 36:22, Matthew chapter 23, Galatians 6:1, Philippians 2:3,4,12,15, 3:2, Hebrews 10:25, I Corinthians 12:3].

    2.                         LEGALISM?

              [LEGALISM AND MORALS ARE TWO ENTIRELY SEPARATE THINGS]
                                Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

                        Woe to them that do...Psalm 119, Romans 6:1,2, Isaiah 5:20

                                                                          Part One

     Those of us who believe, have received grace by the spirit of holiness [Rom. 1:4,5]. Grace is from the Greek 'charis', meaning "that which bestows or occasions pleasure, delight, or causes favorable regard". God is greatly displeased with sin, which is the going against, or breaking of, the law of Moses [Ezekiel 18:20-32, I John 3:4, Nehemiah 1:5-9]. Two things here: God and what He expects does not change [Malachi 3:1,5,6,7,13-15,18, Matthew 5:17, James 1:17], and; the ritualistic and ceremonial parts of the law of Moses were abolished, which we will touch on later.
     The Gospel of Christ is God's power to deliver us [salvation-soteria-deliverance, preservation, salvation] and preserve us from being servants to sinning [Rom. 1:16], from the bondage that comes from the condemnation of knowing we are guilty of sinning, yet having no way to be delivered neither from the bondage nor the cause of sinning [Hebrews 2:15, Exodus 13:3,14, James 4:5, Ezekiel 36:26 > John 3:3]. Once delivered, why would we want to be slaves to sinful ways again [Galatians 4:3, 5:7,13-26, 6:8, II Peter 2:19-22, ].
     If we start following false doctrine, doing despite to the Holy Ghost [I Thessalonians 5:19,20], God will let us keep deceiving ourselves [James 1:26] and cause us to be deceived even more [Hosea 2:14, II Thessalonians 2:3,9-12, Isaiah 6:12, 30:1,2, Amos 4:4-11, 2:4], such as happened to the people referred to in Romans 1:18-32, Habakkuk 2:18,19, Hosea 4:6-14], and is happening now.
     Let's break down Romans 1:18. The wrath of God is originally from the Greek 'orge', meaning anger. It is a "settled or abiding condition of mind with a view to taking revenge...more lasting in nature" [Rom. 3:5], in contrast to Greek thumos, which is agitated, sudden, hot outbursts, which is man's wrath. I have had thumos and experienced orge. Ungodliness is anything which is not in tune with God's attributes. So God's wrath, such as the children of Israel experienced in the wilderness [Exodus 32:1-14,19,25,28], is revealed against actions which are not in keeping with His attributes.
     Not only that, but it comes upon those who know who God is and what He is like, but instead of worshipping Him, they twist the truth to suit themselves. It is called rationalizing, which is compromise. Compromise is something blending the characteristics of two others; to bind by mutual agreement; to expose by miscredit or mischief. The Lord tells us that we cannot serve two masters nor compromise [Matthew 6:24, II Corinthians 6:14-18, I Corinthians 3:16], but to choose one or the other [Joshua 24:15].
     Those people had become lower than animals, because they had turned the truth of God into a lie [Rom. 1:25,26,27,29-31], the lie being that they tried to become their own gods [Jeremiah 16:20,21], just as lucifer tried to usurp God's authority and was expelled from heaven [Isaiah 14:12-16, Ezekiel 28:1-19, Luke 10:18]. It is the same spirit that possessed the builders of the Tower of Babel. They thought that they would attain to God's power by their own wisdom and might [Genesis 11:1-9], derived from the same spirit that appealed to Adam and Eve, which they thought would make them as God [Genesis 3:1-7].
     Those people, and many like them, became so reprobate that they no longer could recognize God for who He is [Rom. 1:24], because when they had known God, they refused to acknowledge His supreme power and divinity [Rom. 1:21-23]. Even animals know who God is [Rom. 1:20, Genesis 9:2 > 1:26, 2:7].
   Another lie that humans perpetuate is idolatry [Rom. 1:23,25]. They started worshipping idols, instead of God. What do people worship? Worship is from the Greek words 'proskuneo [to make obesience to, do reverence to, to kiss]; sebomai [to revere, be devoted to]; sebazomai [to honor religiously]; latreuo [to serve, pay homage to]; eusebeo [act piously towards].
   What do we spend our extra time doing. What is our focus in life? What is the most important thing in our life? With most people it isn't God. It's not like God doesn't want us to enjoy life aside from His things. But He wants Himself to be our main focus [Matthew 6:19-21,31-34]. We need to bear in mind that the earthly things are just "tools" with which to get by while here on earth [Luke 16:9], not as objects of worship.
     It's interesting to note, that the native Americans, who were considered by many to be heathens, according to documentations from the old west days, would not lie. They would keep silent and even die under torture before telling a lie.
     One other way that people turn the truth of God into a lie is to call the truth conditional, or relative. Truth and lies are black and white, and are not relative. Is a car red only because other cars are blue, green and purple? Is a 95 year old person elderly only due to the younger people around them? Is it only wrong to steal when we have enough? Is God only all powerful when we are in need? I've played the rationalization and compromise game before. It's a path to endless problems and eternal death. I am fortunate that my sins have been open to Him beforehand, so that I was able to repent of them [I Timothy 5:24, Job 21:30].
     Notice that satan told Eve a half-truth, which is a lie. He knew that they wouldn't die right then, so he made a play on words. He had already drunk of that same spirit, so he knew that they wouldn't die right then. It is that spirit which tells people that they can decide what is good and what is bad, being a god unto themselves.
     The King of Tyrus, which I believe was a person possessed by satan, had much earthly wisdom, and gave the glory to himself, which is the same as lucifer in Isaiah 14 [Ezekiel 28:2,4-6,9, 12-17]. This is the same sin that Pharaoh committed [Ezekiel 31:2-18]. Pride will cause that spirit to enter into a human spirit [Proverbs 16:18]. God wants us to be humble and submit to Him and His ways [James 4:7,8, II Chronicles 7:14].
     Notice in Romans chapter one that various stages of backsliding were, for lack of a better term, accomplished. First, they held the truth in unrighteousness. They still held the truth, but in a twisted way, having a form of godliness, but without the real power [II Timothy 3:5]. This was the end of their first stage of backsliding. They became lukewarm, partly due to plenty, but were being counseled [Rev. 3:15-19], rebuked and chastened, like Laodicea. They had angered God at this point, and had not only failed to give God the glory due Him, but had glorified their own wisdom, much like King Herod had done [Acts 12:21-23]. They were unthankful and loved pleasures of life more than they loved God [II Timothy 3:4].
     Because of those things and refusal to repent, God sent those people delusions, taking away what light was left in their hearts [1:21, Ezekiel 14:6-10]. Once they started worshipping idols, or things [1:23], God gave up on them and left them to their own earthly and sensual desires [v. 24]. Then, God let them descend even deeper into wickedness [v. 26], which resulted in judgements being orchestrated upon them [v. 27]. After that, God let their minds become estranged from any knowledge of Him [v. 28]. Finally those people became filled with evil [v. 29-32], to the point that they actually became pleased that they were against God.
     So up to this point, we have built a platform of what legalism is not, and what false accusations of legalism are built on. This platform is the basis for refuting the notion that strict adherence to moral precepts is legalism. That notion is much of what Gnosticism and Docetism is built on, and is against both Christ and God, and is a false Gospel [I Thessalonians 2:10, Galatians 1:3-9, Colossians 1:10,13,14,22,28, 2:4,8,11,13-15,18, 3:5-10,12-17,25].

For 'Legalism?' Part Two Click Here

2.                                     LEGALISM?

     The spirit of antiChrist has caused many to be filled with delusions. One of those delusions is the notion and subsequent teaching that grace has somehow made null and void the moral commandments. That teaching is as far from the truth as the devil is from going to heaven, and is in fact instigated and perpetuated by satan himself. Here is a fine line: though not chained to the concrete ritualism of the moral law, we are 100% obligated to practice the concreteness of the precepts of the moral law.
     There are several reasons why the false teaching of "freedom to sin" has been spread like a virus. One reason is that the translators of the Bible, when translating the New Testament from the original Greek to English, and to other languages for that matter, didn't always use the best word for each given keyword. Sometimes it was unavoidable, as the English, and some other, language(s) are limited in the availability of thoroughly descriptive words with which to replace the original. Some of the translators, for example when creating versions such as the NIV, were not very well grounded and rooted in God to begin with [Jude 1:4]. and published adulterated versions [I Kings 18:21]. That is evident by lukewarm meanings, intended to conform the church to the world.
     Another reason is that a misunderstanding of many key words has caused many people to improperly interpret a lot of the verses [James 4:3]. For example, in the book of Romans and others, the Greek word 'law' is spelled several different ways, in fact is several different words, and has different meanings, depending upon the context of the verse. Though I've been unwittingly guilty of that very thing, of not knowing some of the genuine, authentic and accurate meanings of certain verses, the Holy Ghost always nagged at me that there was something amiss [John 16:13]. What opened scripture to me is discovering that we need to reference key words with original meanings. I happen to use a Vine's Concordance, with both the Hebrew (Old Testament) and Greek (New Testament) definitions for words. It has made a huge difference.
     Doctrine matters, and is all. Love does not discount the need for true doctrine. In fact, that kind of "love" is earthly, instigated by mere emotion and propagated by satan [James 3:15]. Sound doctrine inspires true love [II Timothy 3:16, 4:3, I Corinthians chapter 13].
     Another reason that so much scripture is misunderstood is because there are those who purposely twist it in order to satisfy their own evil desires [Titus 1:11, Isaiah 30:10]. They want to try to become their own gods and bring God down to their level, instead of attaining to His [Romans 1:17-32, III John 9-11, II John 7,9-11].
     The idea that we can keep sinning once under grace is part Gnostism and part Docetism, both false doctrines. Large parts of those devil inspired doctrines teach that only the spirit of man matters, and not the body [II Corinthians 5:10, Revelation 14:12]. To those who teach such false doctrines, thus says the Lord, "...they shall not have a vision...it will be dark to them... they will be ashamed...confounded", Micah 3:5-7.
     We already know that we are physically unable to keep all of the 300-400 moral commandments constantly [James 3:2, Matthew 5:21-48], so why would we knowingly break any of them [Romans 6:1, Isaiah 5:20] ? A farmer knows that during harvest, some of the grain or ears of corn will be left in the field. So why would he open the wagon door and let some more of it fall to the ground? Soldiers in war know that they're going to miss the enemy soldiers sometimes. So should they just shoot all of their bullets into the air or into the ground?
     Christ came to save us from our sins, not condone our sins [Galatians 3:13, Matthew 1:21, Galatians 2:17]. There is a distinctly different spirit between those who let the Holy Ghost keep them from sinning, and those who practice no real discipline and try to let grace cover up willful sin, not even trying to refrain and be delivered. The devil has a spirit which deceitfully imitates the workings of God's spirit, just as the magicians of Egypt were able to duplicate several of God's wonders by the hand of Moses [Exodus 7:10-13, 20-22, 8:5-7]. But beyond a certain point, the evil magicians could no longer duplicate God's signs [Exodus 8:8,16-19].
   How can we be like Jesus, if we purposely break the moral commandments [John 15:8-11, Matthew 10:25, John 5:14, 14:15, Deuteronomy 10:12, chapter 28].
     This series of lessons is based upon the book of Romans, with references to other applicable books.

     PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO BE NOTED IS THAT, CONCERNING THE SPIRIT OF ANTICHRIST, IS THAT ANTICHRIST NOT ONLY MEANS 'AGAINST CHRIST', BUT IT ALSO MEANS 'INSTEAD OF CHRIST'. THERE IS PLENTY OF ANTICHRIST DOCTRINE IN AMERICA TODAY, INCLUDING WITHIN THE CHURCHES. A PERSON CAN MOST DEFINITELY TALK ABOUT JESUS CHRIST, NOT VERBALLY DENYING HIM, AND BE OF THE SPIRIT OF ANTICHRIST. IT HAS PERVADED THE CHURCHES SILENTLY, SEDUCTIVELY AND CRAFTILY.