There are those today who would say, “we are under grace and not under the law”. Amen. We are justified in God’s court by the work of grace and not by the works of the law. They have however taken this truth and carried it from justification into sanctification and imply that we can live like we please and yet maintain a right standing with God because we are under unmerited favor. After all, we live in this “body of sin”. Have we forgotten that repentance goes hand in hand with faith unto salvation?
Repentance means a change of direction, from lawbreaker, to lawkeeper. Of course only “new creations” can keep God’s law because God has to place in us this ability to be an “overcomer”. Through and with His power, we are able to overcome our flesh and put it to death, all of it’s lusts and corruptness must die. If we are crucified with Christ, then we shall reign with Him. That means that when we are crucified, our old man, our flesh has to die. If it is not dead, we have not been crucified. Wounded? Perhaps, but not crucified. If we have not been crucified, then we cannot be buried with Him and therefore have no part in the resurrection. Now, that is very scary.
Fear only comes into place when we try to live in and according to the flesh. Flesh is weak and corrupt, always self serving and cannot please God. When the flesh of the believer is dead in Christ, then the only life that lives on is that of the Spirit. Then and only then is there true peace within because there is no longer a battle raging. One side is dead, therefore the war is finished, just as Jesus said.
So how do we know we know Him? How do we know He knows us?
1 Jn 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
Keep what commandments? The law of ordinances? Most assuredly not. Jesus fulfilled all of that and our just punishments along with it. It is the law of Moses written by the hand of Moses that was nailed to the cross. That leaves only the 10 Commandments of God, and no more. Of course we believe our Savior when He said that all 10 are encompassed in two, Love of God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and love our neighbor as ourselves. But I cannot find anywhere, where believers are exempted from keeping God’s Commandments as evidence of the Born Again experience. It’s like breathing is to a new born, a sign of life, His life within us.
1 Jn 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
Sobering indeed. Those who would preach this from their pulpits put themselves and their lambs in a very perilous position. If the truth is not in us, the life is not in us. If the life is not in us, we are yet dead in our sins, our lawbreaking!
1 Jn 3:22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
Is it any wonder people get discouraged because their prayers and petitions fall back in their faces? They refuse to keep the commandments of God. They show up in church, but what of the rest of their week. They sit in front of a television set and suck up the dregs of existence while God is left waiting outside the door. They cry out they have plenteous of goods and are in need of nothing while God calls them destitute!
1 Jn 3:24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
Ah, the reality of what Jesus spoke when some came to Him and said they had prophecied and cast out demons in His name and He said, “I never knew you”. Why did He not know them? They did not keep His commandments.
1 Jn 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
This goes right back to what Jesus said about the two great commandments. Does not this verse say the same thing, just worded slightly different?
1 Jn 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
They are only grievous when we try to serve two masters. If the war is still going on within, two masters are yet alive. We are trying to love God with our own ability and on our own terms. God never gave us the privilege of setting up our own terms.
2 Jn 1:6 And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
Walk in it, to me, means we do this daily, every day. It becomes our way of life, or rather, His way of life in us.
Rev 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Is this not during the tribulation period? Who is this “remnant”? Who is this woman. I won’t prejudice your answer. I’ll leave that for you to determine.
Rev 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here [are] they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
Keep the commandments of God and what? Faith in Jesus? Hmmm. If the church is gone, who are these who have faith in Christ and keep His commandments?
Rev 22:44 Blessed [are] they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
Well, this final verse pretty much speaks for itself…….. Now, when I read this list of verses, how could I possibly come to the conclusion that God has exempted believers from keeping His Commandments because we live under grace?
I don’t know about you, but I have a real difficult time with that. It would appear to me, and correct me if I am wrong, that God does expect us to draw from His ability and live holy before Him by faith in Jesus and keeping His commandments because we believe.
Now, we must take care of one more tidy piece of business with all of this. Do we get to pick and choose which of His 10 Commandments we keep? Can we lie, yet boast we do not steal? Can we lust and boast we do not take His name in vain? Can you recognize, from the list of 10, one commandment above all the others that most so called modern day believers vehemently reject? I’ll give you a hint. It begins with “Remember”. It is the only one that begins this way. I wonder why? But then, that’s another study isn’t it.
You see the commandments as an order "Thou Shall Do This Or That". You see it as a law to be obeyed.
I see the commandments as a gift and fulfillment of God's grace in a persons life.
You may read "Thou shall drink water" and see it as a command to do something.
I see it as a promise "Thou shall drink water" meaning I will be filled and my thirst quenched.
You may say "Thou shall not commit adultery" and issue it as a command.
I see the fact of not committing adultery as a gift from God.
I see it like this: You love Me, therefore, "Thou shall not commit adultery" because my grace is sufficient.
Let me explain.
You see my friend, most people look at things as black and white . They most often forget there is a 3rd option that God offers.
I think you see the commandments as an obedience or disobedience issue. I see these things actually occurring as a result of God's grace.
In all of this you imply that a man must have self control. Is that being God like? With self- control we must repress something that is wrong in us. We must push it back to not let it out. Is God like that? Does He exercise self-control? That would imply that there is something in Him that needs holding back.
No. God is self commanding. He commands forth His gifts and attributes, His grace, mercy, love, justice, and forgiveness. So, If I want to be like Jesus, am I to be under self control? No. I should be self commanding. Commanding forth what He has given me. When these things are shining there is no darkness.
A man will exercise self control so long as he does not know or realize what God has put into Him. When he realizes the indwelling of Christ then self control is no longer needed.
Who will assure a newly saved man and show him what God has put into him? Who will encourage him to exhibit the love, grace and mercy that God has given him? Will it be the man who shouts "thou shall not" as a command and cry out, obey, obey, obey. No. That man will tie up the new Christian in legalities and destroy his new found enthusiasm. And yes, even Tozer wrote about this happening in Christian circles.
Who will assure the newly saved? It will be a man or woman who can show the new Christian what God has wrought and how wonderful freedom is. A person who rejoices with the new Christian and does not try to set them straight. A man who gently says, God has given you light, let it shine for all to see. You are no longer what you were and all things are new.
You have said "Now, when I read this list of verses, how could I possibly come to the conclusion that God has exempted believers from keeping His Commandments because we live under grace? "
You talk about keeping His commandments and perhaps the reward is answered prayer. I talk about being in touch consistently and constantly and one with Him. All things become gifts from Him. The relationship is fulfilled because of His grace.
Tozer said: "The man or woman who is wholly or joyously surrendered to Christ can't make a wrong choice--any choice will be the right one."
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Dear TH, I apologize for my inadequacy of articulation of the english language. Evidently, by stating what you said "I said", and what I meant for my reader to understand are two entirely different things. You say "I said". Would you mind quoting just where I said that?
I have stressed over and over that the power and ability to obey God comes from God alone. One can no more keep the commandments of God by his own self ability, than one can keep a new years resolution that cannot be remembered by January 3rd. Paul said it is God who places in us both the will and the desire to do His good pleasure. Amen. I totally agree. I must have failed the reader badly if I did not make that clear in something I have written before hand.
In my post above, I listed many scripture quotes to emphasize what I was trying to share. Where are the verses that support your thesis?
Actually, as best I can understand it, you are trying to express what I have already stated I agreed with and just repeated. When God places in us the desire for obedient living, it is no longer a religious command, but and instruction of enthusiastic love. We want to live in obedience to God's law because God places that in us as a work of grace, unmerited favor.
I for one know this to be true, in that I have experienced this personally, after years and years of emotional and spiritual struggle.
So, I will ask you sir. Will the "spirit led man" steal? Will he/she lie? Will they comit adultery? Will they abandon all respect for God's command to not work on the 7th day and keep it a time of fellowship with God?
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Because God gave man free will we must choose to obey Him. Jesus said, "Thou shalt not kill." Was this a command not to do something or a promise of deliverance from something?
Let's consider the man who was lame for 38 years. This man had not used his limbs for some 38 years. How much strength do you suppose he had in those limbs? Absolutely none. Jesus commanded the man to stand up and walk and he did. How was he able to walk on limbs that had no strength? Was he forced or did he believe? He believed the words of Jesus and stood up by faith.
Now let's consider the sinful man. Because man's will has been so weakened by sin it is impossible for him to keep the law of God. Romans 8:7 says that the carnal mind is enmity with God and is not subject to His law. In fact, it says, the carnal mind can not be subject to God's law. So the natural man, the carnal mind, the sinful man, is weakened by sin such that he cannot do right. Like the lame man desired to walk the sinner may desire to do right. But neither of them could find strength within themselves to obtain their goal. But just as Jesus said to the lame man, "Take up thy bed and walk" so too He said to the Prostitute, "Go and sin no more." And he says to each of us, "Thou shalt not sin."
The words of Christ, His commandments, are not just warnings to those who would transgress His law but promises to those who by faith take hold of them as such. But we must choose to obey by virtue of the promises that we can. Jesus told the lame man, stand up and walk. The lame man believed Jesus had power to bestow upon him so that he could walk. So he stood up and walked. The moment he attempted to use his limbs his belief became a living faith. His belief was joined to trust and his attempt to stand testified of the quality of his faith. And he was rewarded by virtue of his living faith. Faith without works is dead but this lame man not only believed by he acted upon his belief.
Just as God provided strength to the lame man's limbs so too when we take hold of His promises by faith and choose to obey then God provides the strength to our will. Because we have free will we must choose to obey. God will not force us to obey. But the moment we try to obey our belief is combined with works of living faith. We cannot obey of ourselves but when we add effort to our faith and step out, so to speak, then God provides the strength promised in His commands.
I believe it is this faith and works combined that constitutes a living faith and can be understood as our part in self-control. We must choose to do what God wants us to do. The simple word is obedience. We must choose to obey God.
While in our prior state of walking in the flesh our moral powers became subject to the lusts of our flesh. We followed in the ways of our natural man, our man of sin. But when we are born again into Christ the old man dies and a new creation is born. This new creation, we are told, does not walk in the flesh. That is, it does not allow the flesh to control things. The new creation is guided by the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. As the lame man was given power to walk, so too the sinner is given power to control his flesh. The divine nature of Christ is imparted to us giving His moral strength to our wills enabling us to be self-controlled. Not self-controlled in the sense of independence from God, but self-controlled in the sense that God strengthens our will power so that we may do the things we desire to do--that is, the things we would choose to do if we could see the end from the beginning. We still have total free will. God does not take control of us. But He imparts to us His Righteous attributes through our faith and determination both to will and do of His good pleasure.
Try as he might the lame man could not get up and walk on his own. He had a strong desire to do so but he found no strength inside of himself to accomplish the task. So too, when the sinner sees Christ in all His glory a desire is born inside him to be like his Savior. He sees the shame of his own life, his failures, his weaknesses, his guilt. And He sees the beauty of Christ's character in all its shining glory. He desires to be like Christ but he finds no strength inside himself to accomplish the task. But just as Jesus gave hope to the lame man with his command to stand up and walk, so too He gives hope to the sinner with the words, thou shalt not sin.
There is a spontaneity which is born of a close communion with Christ. But temptations will still come to us and it is in these moments we must exercise by faith the power Jesus has promised to us. We may not feel the power. We will not sense it in our being nor recognize it in our experiences. But by faith we may take hold of God's promise and stand up and walk. Paul says we are to reckon ourselves dead to sin but alive to God. We do this by believing what Jesus has said about us and not by looking at our past experiences and failures. The battle is one of faith. We do not struggle against flesh and blood. The struggle is between Christ and Satan. But a living faith does not stop at belief but goes forward with works that testify of the quality of that belief and demonstrates trust as well.
I am not aware of any stories in the Bible where Jesus told a lame person to walk and they simply said, "I can't walk." But I quite often hear Christians saying that they cannot stop sinning. They excuse their failures with words like, "That is the way Jesus made me." Or, "I am not perfect, are you?" Or, "No one can keep the law. Do you keep it perfectly?" All of these are simply expressions of disbelief in the promises of God. They contradict the plain testimony of the Word of God. Jesus never said we had to do it alone. In fact, He said it was impossible for us to do anything without Him. So when we talk of our inability to obey God we are simply telling the world that we don't believe Jesus can do what He claims He can. At least not for us.
So to answer Tarheel, I would say, Yes, we are to be self-controlled. We are to surrender our will daily to Christ. Then Christ will give us power to manage our lives according to His will. Instead of our reasoning being subject to the flesh, we will, like Paul, bring our bodies under control of our mind, our reasoning powers. Instead of following every little desire of the flesh, we will exercise our God-given nobility of mind and by virtue of His divine nature bring our bodies under control of the Spirit of God. Our bodies will then answer to the mind which is controlled by faith working by love rather than the mind being subject to the lusts of the flesh.
I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. -- 1 Cor 9:27 (KJV)
As far as things being black and white... there are a lot of gray areas in our world today, it would seem. But there is no gray area with God. Gray area comes in when we try to reason things out for ourselves. If we were connected to God as closely and constantly as we claim to be those gray areas would become black and white. Satan attempted to create gray areas for Jesus. But Jesus divided truth from error by quoting scripture. He appealed to the Word of God. What does the Bible say, should be our plea, our shield.
The Bible says that the law of God is righteous and true and that those who do righteously are of God. But those who do evil are not of God. Does the person who claims to be a child of God keep His commandments? Or, do they willingly and knowingly despise God's law? That is the black and white of it for me. If I am uncertain then I give them the benefit of the doubt. But if it is obvious, mostly by their own admission, that they are at enmity with God and His law well... you get the point.
Jesus drew the line in this way. "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Matt 5:19 (KJV).
Now, just to bring this into perspective. If I were to ask you which of the commandments of God you consider to be the least, which would you choose? Would it be the one about lying (bearing false witness)? Some Christians today consider that some lies are ok. But I don't think they would dismiss this commandment altogether. What about honoring Father and Mother? While we don't fully understand what it means to honor Father and Mother, I still don't think they would choose this one as the least. Certainly murder and adultery are not the least though we hate with a passion and are sexually active outside of marriage. Maybe coveting? No, because preacher still speak against it.
Hummm, what one commandment does the Christian world consider to be the least today? It's probably the one they feel has been done away with. Certainly a commandment that was nailed to the cross would be the least of all the commandments. Ok, maybe that is the commandment you would choose at being the least.
So now when we look at the words of Jesus we can put all of this into perspective. Jesus said, that not the smallest jot or tittle would pass from the law until heaven and earth passed away--that is, all has been fulfilled concerning the salvation of man. Then he went on to say that those who broke the least of those commandments and teach others to do the same would be considered least in heaven. This does not mean that they would be in heaven but in the lowest position. This is talking about how those in heaven would consider transgressors of God's law who taught others to sin. They would consider them the lowest of the low for they not only break the law but teach others to do the same. Thus by their influence they lead others to willfully sin against God and lose out on eternal life.
Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. 1 John 3:7-10 (KJV)
Sorry this is so long. I tried to edit it down but it requires a lot of effort.
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Hi Jeff, Awesome, brother and so true. God bless you real good.
My wife and I were discussing this and we agreed that people who make lame excuses for not obeying God, do not want to give up their carnal life, ie, their sin. We just might as well say that and get it over with. Man may make excuses for walking after the flesh, but God does not. He paid too big of a price for our freedom. He said we must crucify our flesh, put it to death, by faith and a decision to repent, change direction and live for God in holiness and righteousness from that point on. Far too many want to be saved by faith, as long as it does not alter their sinful lifestyle. That, as I understand it, is not biblical.
I can tell you of a certainty that exactly what you wrote is not only true, but attainable. I have attained it in my own life. Not perfect, but my heart is to be. I, like so many others, thought it was not possible. It in fact is not possible if we try to do it on our own as you so well put it. But when I cried out to God, He heard me and set me free. He also told me to get anything and everything out of my life that interfered with our relationship.
It's not that I was doing so many "bad things". But there were things that I did need to clean from my virtual and spiritual house. Throw the stuff out and don't pick it up again. Not only was I able to do this, but I have not picked it up again. Why? Because of my love for God and my desire to honor Him for saving me, and because He gave me the power to lead an overcoming life. Now I can talk the talk because I too have been able to walk the walk.
One of the biggies I had to get rid of was television. It's not that I was a movie watcher, because I saw very few movies. But most television programs are produced by adulterers, fornicators, liars, theives, homosexuals, scorners of God and His people, and so on. Oh, don't forget evolutionists. So when we sit and watch this stuff, we become partakers of their sins. We are weakened by what we see and hear and far too often are lead into sin and lust.I have a whole list of scriptures about this, if anyone is interested.
Worse yet, we are stewards of our time. Television is extremely poor stewardship over the gift of time. We are not called to entertain and amuse ourselves. We are called to serve our God and our neighbor. It doesn't take a prophetic anointing to see there is much opportunity all around us to love God and our neighbor if we but open our eyes.
Oh how I do thank my God for so great a salvation by faith in the shed blood of Jesus, and for my life in grace and obedience to His commandments. I want nothing between my soul and my savior. Anything or anyone that comes between me and my Lord is my enemy and is treated as such. To God alone be the glory, now and forever amen.
Jeff, know that you just blessed me deeply and wonderfully today. Thank you for sharing your heart and faith with us all.
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