By Brother Michel Lankford
Many Christians erroneously reject God’s Law because they don’t really understand the Scriptures. They don’t understand that the Bible actually teaches that obeying God’s Law IS actually PART of God’s Grace.
Ministers are Taught False Doctrines that They Pass On to Others
Even ministers are often not taught the Scriptures in Bible colleges and seminaries anymore. So, the vast majority of Christians are biblically ignorant. They don’t really know what the Bible teaches. They only know what the teachers have taught them, and whatever their preachers say on Sunday. Even when they do read the Scriptures, they superimpose what they have been taught into the Scriptures, and so they twist the Scriptures to match what they have previously been taught, and they accidentally filter out and ignore what doesn’t match their preconceived ideas
One major false doctrine that is taught in virtually every Christian Bible school, seminary, and Sunday church is that God’s Laws, His Commandments, and His Instructions were supposedly abolished and done away with at the cross on which Messiah died for our sins. In other words, the prevalent belief is that when Messiah accomplished His mission of making atonement for sins on our behalf, God’s law was completed. The theory goes that now all anyone has to do is to have faith and to profess faith in Jesus Christ and they will be saved, regardless of how you live your life. It’s basically a mixture of popular psychology combined with misapplied Scripture. The idea is basically that if you get rid of all guilt and shame, people will be more free and more productive. Now you combine that with some misapplied Scriptures written by Paul that SEEM to suggest that we are not justified by keeping God’s Commandments, and you have a poisonous and destructive belief cocktail.
They FALSELY Believe that Grace Means You Should Not Obey God’s Commandments Anymore
This belief system has gotten so entrenched in the minds of many so-called Christians, that there are entire Christian movements have sprung up now where they are actually teaching a form of hyper Grace/Ultra Grace. According to hyper grace teachings, it is now being taught that it is a sin or a lack of Grace to try to obey any biblical Commandment Whatsoever. According to hyper grace teachers, if you try to obey any Biblical Commandment whatsoever, that is the same as saying that what Jesus did to buy your justification on the cross was not enough. You are still trying to get saved through your own works of obedience, and therefore you are supposedly rejecting what Jesus accomplished by trying to obey any biblical Commandment, even things that Jesus said you had to do. Please remember, this doctrine and things like this are completely FALSE. They are NOT Biblical at all, not even by New Testament standards.
That is one of the biggest reasons that people are widely rejecting God’s Law. They FALSELY believe, (because they have twisted the Scriptures), that obeying any part of God’s Law is supposedly Lack of Grace.
The Bible actually teaches that grace helps you to obey God, (e.g. Ezekiel 11:19–20; Ezekiel 36; 25–27; Jeremiah 31:31–34; Titus 2:11–15). The Bible does NOT teach that it is okay to disobey God, because you are, “Under Grace.” If you read the Bible faithfully, the Bible clearly teaches that if you are truly under God’s Grace, you will obey God better and more often, not less. I could write countless pages on the subject, and easily prove the point, but to save time I will give you just one example:
As It Is Written:
““Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’(Matthew 7:21–23 NASB95)
But What About Grace?!
It almost never fails. Whenever we address any issue in Scripture where the Bible clearly and overtly says that the believer MUST DO something, somebody always screams, “What about Grace?!” “We are saved by Grace and not by our works.” It doesn’t seem to matter what the Biblical Instruction is, or Who in the Bible gave the Instruction, the response will invariably come, “Well, we are saved by Grace, and not by our works.”
Here you have Yahshua/Jesus (ישוע) the Messiah and Son of the Living Almighty Creator, clearly saying that only those who DO the Will of the Heavenly Father will enter the Heavenly Kingdom, (Matthew 7:21). No doubt, somebody out there who reads and hears my words is already screaming, “Well, we are saved by Grace, and not by our works.”
The people making statements like these may not fully realize what they are actually saying, but what they are in fact saying is, “Yes, I know that Jesus said that only those who DO the Will of the Father will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but I believe that we will enter the Kingdom of Heaven whether or not we do the Father’s Will successfully, regardless of what Jesus said, because we claim faith and belief in Jesus Christ; and we are saved by Grace, and not by our works.” [OOPS…WRONG!]
There is practically no doubt in my mind that Jesus is up there seated at the right hand of the Majesty, and He is saying, “Well, if you REALLY, ‘BELIEVED’ Me, then you would take heed to what I have said, and you would practice learning, and practice doing the Father’s Will; and if you don’t want to practice learning and practice doing the Father’s Will, then the fact is that you don’t truly BELIEVE Me, regardless of what you claim.” There is virtually no doubt in my mind that this is how the Messiah would respond to those types of claims.
Here is a key statement that many people forget about Grace:
“For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13 NASB95
FACT: When God works inside of us to accomplish His Desired Result, that is part of how Grace functions.
FACT: God is perfect, (Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 19:7-14). God is not schizoid. God is not schizophrenic. He will not deny or contradict Himself, (2 Timothy 2:13).
QUESTIONS: Is it ever going to be God’s, “Good Pleasure,” for us to do the OPPOSITE of God’s will? Is it ever going to be God’s, “Good Pleasure,” for us to reject God’s Commandments, and for us to follow our own desires and our own traditions instead of doing what God says He wants? Is it ever going to be God’s, “Good Pleasure,” for us to claim faith in Jesus Christ while we reject and ignore what Jesus actually said to do? Not a chance!
You Know It’s God’s Grace Working In You When…
- If God’s Grace is really working in you, then you will notice a growing desire and a growing ability to seek and to pursue what God says that His Will is.
- If God’s Grace is really working in you, then you will notice a growing desire and a growing ability to discover and to learn what God’s will is.
- If God’s Grace is really working in you, then you will notice a growing desire and a growing ability to choose what God says that His Will is.
- If God’s Grace is really working in you, then you will notice a growing desire and a growing ability TO DO what God says that His Will is.
- If God’s Grace is really working in you, then you will notice a growing desire and a growing ability to persevere in doing what God says that His Will is, and not to give up on obeying the Father.
If you don’t see these changes happening and progressing inside of you, then it is NOT God’s Grace that you are under. Please don’t kid yourself.
God works in us to do and to will after His Good Pleasure, so if we don’t see a growing desire and growing ability to do the Father’s Good Pleasure; that’s not God working in us, that’s our sinful nature working there.
God works in us to do and to will after His Good Pleasure, so if we don’t see a growing desire to do the Father’s Good Pleasure; that’s not God working in us, that’s rebellion, defiance or disobedience, regardless of what you are tempted to tell yourself.