QUESTION: When you say that a disciple and follower of Almighty God and His Son Jesus Christ is still obligated to respect, to honor, and to obey all of God's Laws, teachings and instructions wherever possible, as best as one can, are you not then also teaching that people are saved and made righteous before God by their own works of obedience to the Law?
That is a common accusation and misconception, but it is not at all accurate. This is kind of like a catchall comeback that many people in Christendom are taught to use because it's an instant answer that gives us a convenient excuse not to look too closely at God's Commands and Instructions. If I just call something legalism than it makes it okay to ignore it, and God will honor it, because I'm under grace, or so we are led to believe. The problem with that misguided notion is that contrary to what has now become common practice, true Biblical Grace will NEVER give you permission to disregard or disobey God's Laws, Commandments, or His Instructions. Such a thing is sin and lawlessness, NOT Grace; (Philippians 2:13; 1 John 3:4; Matthew 7:21; Hebrews 10:26).
God's Eternal Regulations Can Be Abolished, but Our Eternal Life Is Presumed Secure?
Who gives us the promise of eternal life? What basis do we have for believing that are everlasting life is truly secure? Beloved, we believe in God's gift of eternal life through His Son Yeshua the Messiah. The promise of eternal life is based on faith, and our faith is based on our understanding and our trust in the character of the One who gave the promises. The same God who gave us the promise of eternal life through His Son is the very same Almighty God who also gave us His Instructions Laws and Commandments, many of which He also said were eternal regulations.The common misconception that God abolished His eternal regulations at the cross violates some key principles:
First, if God's everlasting regulations can be abolished at the cross, then they cannot possibly be everlasting as God said they were, by any stretch of the imagination.
Second, if God says that He is establishing an eternal regulation, and at this same time that same regulation can be abolished or done away with at the cross, as so many claim, then by what means can our eternal life possibly be thought secure? If God's eternal regulations can be abolished, then our eternal life cannot possibly be secure because it can be abolished as well since the same God established both principles. If indeed Almighty God's eternal regulations are not secure, then our promise of eternal life cannot possibly be secure either, since God's Law, His Promises and our eternal life is promised and upheld by the same God. If the unchanging God can abolish His everlasting regulations, then our eternal lives are not safe either. So, when people attack God's Law by claiming that it has been abolished at the cross, by necessity, they also unwittingly undermine their own beliefs in God's eternal salvation as well.
The Opposite of God's Law Is Not God's Grace. The Opposite of God's Grace Is Not God's Law.
One of the most common lies and twisting of the Scriptures which we have inherited since the fourth century perversion is the idea that the Law, Commandments, and Instructions of God, are the direct opposite and exclusive of God's grace. That cannot be so, because God cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13). Both God's Law and God's Grace are given by the same One and Almighty God. God will never apply His own Grace in such a manner as to undermine His own Laws, Commands, and Instructions. Likewise, Almighty God will not apply His own Laws, Commands, and Instructions in such a manner that would undermine His Grace, because once again the same God who gave us the Law, also provides His Grace, so they cannot be opposite, or exclusive from one another.Contrary to popular misconception the OPPOSITE of Grace IS NOT LAW. The OPPOSITE of GRACE literally means TO DEFAME, PROFANE, or DEMEAN what is HOLY, GOOD, or CLEAN.
Contrary to popular misconception, the opposite of LAW is NOT Grace. The OPPOSITE of LAW is LAWLESSNESS.
Who Shall Live Their Lives for God?
There is yet another area where modern-day Christianity paints itself into a theological corner without fully realizing it. Please consider this. We know from the plain reading of Scripture that we were created for God's pleasure and not our own, so the whole purpose of our human existence is to learn and to do what pleases God (Colossians 1:16; Revelation 4:11; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Moreover, we also know from the Scriptures that the unredeemed sinner who has his mind centered on the sinful nature, is hostile to God and he CANNOT please God (Romans 8:5-8). Now please think about this carefully. If it is impossible for the sinner to obey God because he still has his mind set on the sinful nature, and at the same time, you erroneously tell believers that they can now disobey God's eternal Commands and Instructions, because supposedly they are not under God's Law, but only His Grace, than I put it to you plainly, If the sinner cannot obey God, and the believers are told that obeying God is no longer necessary because they are under grace, then who is left to obey God in the world? Who is left that will model how to walk with God if His own people are taught that obeying His instructions is obsolete. Think about it.Those Who Do God's Will are His Family
Colossians 3:20 Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord. (Colossians 3:20 NASB)
Matthew 12:46-50 He was still speaking to the crowds when suddenly His mother and brothers were standing outside wanting to speak to Him. 47 Someone told Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to You.” 48 But He replied to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” 49 And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven, that person is My brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:46-50 HCSB; cf. Isaiah 56:1-7).
Isaiah 56:4-5 For the LORD says this: “For the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold firmly to My covenant, I will give them, in My house and within My walls, a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give each ⌊of them⌋ an everlasting name that will never be cut off. (Isaiah 56:4-5 HCSB)
Ezekiel 36:25-27 NASB 25 "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. (Ezekiel 36:25-27 NASB)In John chapter 3, we see that the Pharisee Nicodemus came to Jesus by night and Messiah teaches him on the necessity to be born-again (John 3:3, 7). We need to be transformed by God from the inside out so that we will be made right with God, and able to do what pleases Him. We also see that Nicodemus clearly does not understand Messiah's teaching, (John 3:4, 9). What's more interesting is that Messiah expected Nicodemus to already fully understand what was meant by being born-again (John 3:10). That's because the internal change of the rebirth and regeneration was already described in the so-called Old Testament of the Scriptures (Deuteronomy 30:6; Ezekiel 36:25-27). That's why Nicodemus was expected to understand it, because it was already promised in the Old Testament. Let's quickly review the rundown of what God says will happen when someone is truly born-again and God does the work of regeneration inside of them.
1. God cleanses us from everything that He considers filthy (Ezekiel 36:25). Notice that God will purge all idolatry from us. This means that the truly born-again person will NOT want to indulge in anything that was associated with idolatry or the worship of false gods. In the New Testament, believers are commanded to continue cooperating with God through that process (James 1:21-22,:27 Ephesians 4:22; 1 Peter 2:1).
2. God will remove our old heart which is hardened by sin, and He will give us a renewed heart, (Ezekiel 36:26; Deuteronomy 30:6; Psalm 51:10-13).
3. God Will send His Holy Spirit to take up residence in us, (Ezekiel 36:27a). Now, that is a description of being born-again if there ever was one.
Please pay close attention. What does Almighty God HIMSELF say will be the result or the fruit or the visible evidence that such a transformation actually took place inside the believer? God is very specific about the ultimate evidence that a born-again experience has truly taken place:
Ezekiel 36:27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. (Ezekiel 36:27 NASB)Since GOD HIMSELF says that the RESULT of the HOLY SPIRIT coming to live inside a person will CAUSE us to WALK ACCORDING TO HIS STATUTES, and that we will CAREFULLY OBSERVE HIS ORDINANCES, then how can someone who preaches and teaches that God's Eternal Commandments have been abolished or done away with at the cross, how can they possibly be teaching and preaching by the same Holy Spirit of God?
Beloved, I respectfully suggest that preachers and teachers have misread, misunderstood, misinterpreted, misapplied and or twisted the apostle Paul's teachings in a huge way, (2 Peter 3:14-18), in order to come up with the pervasive misguided doctrine which tells them that the Laws, Commandments, and Instructions of Almighty God, which HE said were ETERNAL REGULATIONS, have now been abolished at the cross. Will the same Holy Spirit who guided and empowered people to OBEY God's Commandments, for thousands of years, will that same Holy Spirit now teach people to do the direct opposite of those regulations? How can this be?!
Some religiously minded Christians who favor the traditions of men will no doubt be upset that I dare to raise such a question, but the truly honest Christian has to agree that it is a fair question based on the plain reading and text of the Scriptures.
Obeying God's Commandments Happens AFTER Salvation
Keeping all of these concepts in mind, let us now revisit the question that was posed at the very beginning of this paper: "When you say that a disciple and follower of Almighty God and His Son Jesus Christ is still obligated to respect, to honor, and to obey all of God's Laws, teachings and instructions wherever possible, as best as one can, are you not then also teaching that people are saved and made righteous before God by their own works of obedience to the Law?"The simple answer to that question is "NO." Despite the many accusations and misconceptions about Whole Testament Theology, I am NOT advocating that our righteousness before God and our salvation is achieved by our own obedience to God's Eternal Laws, Commandments, and Instructions. Let me be perfectly clear about what I am saying, and what I believe that Scripture clearly teaches to those who have ears to hear, and eyes that are good and full of light:
Obeying God's Eternal Laws, Commandments, and Instructions will never cause or bring about a person's salvation. That is a gift given to us solely through Messiah's death and resurrection. By the same token, if the regenerating work of salvation has truly occurred inside of a person, Salvation will cause them to obey God's Eternal Laws Commandments and Instructions. Obeying God does not cause your salvation, but do not deceive yourself, true salvation causes you to obey God.
Children do not obey their parents in order to get born or adopted or to belong into their physical family, but after they are born and adopted into the family, then they are required to grow into obedience to their parents. One of the key reasons children within natural families are required to obey their parents is for their own safety as they grow, and so they will learn the disciplines that will help them be healthy and mature and productive citizens of society, who are able to make decisions that will truly benefit themselves and others.
In the same way, we do not obey God's Commandments and precepts in order to get saved and born-again, but after we are saved and born-again into God's family, we are then required to obey God's Commandments so that we will become mature healthy and productive citizens of God's eternal kingdom, which is governed by His Kingdom's Laws and principles and precepts. By learning to obey God's Commandments and precepts, we not only receive God's blessing and approval, but we become mature healthy and productive citizens of God's eternal kingdom, who bring blessing both to ourselves and others.
Obeying God's Commands does not cause or bring about our salvation, but obeying God is a sure sign that salvation has indeed truly occurred within us, and that we are growing and maturing into healthy and productive citizens of God's eternal kingdom. What we obey and follow, demonstrates to whom and to what we actually belong, (Romans 6:15-16). We do not obey God in order to become His children, but after receiving the free gift of being born-again and adopted through Messiah, we grow in loving obedience to God because we already are His children.
Please allow me to illustrate the point another way, by using a common standard of morality with which every believer already agrees in order to help us to more clearly understand this extremely critical concept.
Every believer who loves God and loves Jesus Christ knows that a lifestyle which practices lying or deception is sinfully wrong. So let's use lying versus truth telling to highlight this key principle. Let us say that you have a person who is extremely honest. They love the truth. They do not lie. They are noted for being honest truth tellers, but unfortunately this honest truth teller has not accepted, does not believe and as such does not follow Jesus Christ the Messiah. Will that person who does not believe or obey Messiah be saved and be welcomed into heaven as a citizen of God's kingdom, even though they do not believe and obey Messiah, simply because they are honest and not a liar? Of course not! No matter how honest, morally strict or independently upright a person might be, if they did not choose to believe and obey God, and if they do not choose to appropriate the forgiveness of sins which Jesus Christ purchased on our behalf through his death and resurrection, the honest truth teller who is without the benefit of Christ's sacrifice is still lost and condemned according to Scripture. That's because our own works of righteousness are as filthy rags before God (Isaiah 64:6). As a result, God Himself must grant us His righteousness through Messiah. Which is why it is written:
John 3:36"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." John 3:36 (NASB)So by itself, and apart from living in a right relationship with Almighty God and Jesus Christ, the act or lifestyle of simply avoiding deception and being a truth teller alone, is not what will cause or bring about a person's eternal salvation. This same exact principle is true about obeying any Law or Command found in the Scriptures. Obeying the commands found in Torah, obeying the so-called Old Testament, or for that matter, obeying the commands of the New Testament by itself; indeed obeying any command by itself apart from Messiah, cannot and will not cause or bring about a person's salvation. Just as it is written:
Galatians 3:11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, " THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." (Galatians 3:11NASB77)At the same time, let us look at the flip side of the same coin which is equally true. Let us say that the truth teller in our previous example now comes to faith and obedience to Almighty God and Jesus Christ. Would it be wise for him to say that since being an honest truth teller is not what caused or brought about his salvation, that he should now stop working on maintaining or improving his integrity? Should the truth teller now become lackadaisical, and become a liar because he is saved by grace and not by telling the truth? Of course not! The very implication is ludicrous.
Conversely, let's say that we encounter a person who has had problems throughout his life with lying and dishonesty, but he comes to saving faith in Jesus Christ. The same question applies. Would it be wise to tell this new believer that since overcoming lying by itself will not save him, then it is okay for him to go ahead and continue breaking God's Commandments concerning integrity, go ahead and continue to maintain the habit of lying and deceiving, because overcoming lying and learning to be a truth teller is not what will cause or bring about your salvation anyway; would this be sound teaching? Of course not! Such teaching would be insanely foolish, not to mention deadly (Revelation 21:7-8).
As shockingly insane as these examples may seem, that is exactly the state to which established modern-day Christianity has degraded over the centuries of obeying the traditions of men instead of obeying God's Laws and standards. They may not adopt this mindset openly. They may not adopt this mindset in the areas of such blatantly recognizable sins such as lying and deception, but that is exactly the mindset and approach that they use with more, "Socially acceptable sins" within the church. When it comes to sins such as breaking the Torah, violating the Sabbaths, idolatry, rebellion, witchcraft, greed, coveting and even lust, the approach that is often taken is that there is no great need or great urgency to overcome these things because, "We are not under the law, but under grace."
In fact, in many cases, what the vast majority of churches and organizations in modern-day Christendom actually teach and practice is that since obeying God's Law will not save you, then go ahead and go out of your way to actively violate God's Laws and Commandments, go ahead and do the opposite of what God specifically says He desires and requires, and Almighty God will accept you regardless, because you believe Jesus and so you are now under grace.
Truly, truly, I tell you before Yahweh Almighty God, and His Son Yeshua who is Messiah that this traditional mis-definition and approach to grace is one of the most prevailing deceptions in the modern church. It is a destructive heresy, and we must repent.
True biblical grace gives us the willingness and growing ability to obey God's Law, it doesn't give us a license to disobey Him. God's true work of grace will cause a believer to obey God's standards. A person under grace does not look for loopholes to actively do the opposite of what God says in the name of grace. (Ezekiel 36:25-27; Philippians 2:13; Galatians 6:7-9).
We must turn away from those heretical traditions and common practices of disregarding God standards in favor of the traditions of men, and we must instead return to what God actually says throughout the Whole Testament of Scripture.
Brother R. Michel Lankford
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