law – Page 22

725. Where Do I Stand if I’m Not Keeping the Commandments Perfectly?

October 20, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Ever since the cross and resurrection, church-ianity has pushed a counterfeit gospel known as law-keeping, which believers become hooked on and frequently have a difficult time breaking free from. The Bible tells us the commandments contained within the law from the Old Covenant were not based upon faith. Faith came when Christ arrived. Trying to live by the command caused sin to increase. Living in the Spirit allows us to bear His fruit instead of our own rotten tomatoes.

We don’t serve in the old way of a written code but by the new way of the Spirit. The old way will leave you wondering where you stand with God in any given minute. You will never be at peace while trying to live up to a standard that required perfect behavior … and take notice that legalistic Christianity only will only require you keep a very small portion of what the law demanded. The rest gets hypocritically tossed aside. The remedy for breaking free from the slavery of the addiction of works is God’s grace.

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724. Why Did Peter Cling to Law After it Ended with Jesus?

October 13, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Religious legalists will argue that Peter adhered to rules from the law of Moses for years after the resurrection of Jesus. They make the false assumption that because God moved through him in such miraculous ways—such as shadow healing—Peter must have had a perfect understanding of the gospel. But like the rest of us limited humans, Peter was “growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Through a vision, God began to show Peter the change of law that occurred within a New Covenant which is based upon faith instead of a law of works … and he began to repent (have a change of mind). Later in the book of Acts, he would even argue the case before former Pharisees that Gentiles who were being saved and never had the law, should not be burdened with the futile attempt of trying to keep what they and their fathers were unable bear.

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723. Did Paul Claim He Was Blameless by Keeping the Mosaic Law?

October 6, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

During a recent podcast series about the dangers of mixing law and grace, someone challenged us with a comment that the Apostle Paul stated “he had never committed an offense against the Torah” (law). This is a great example of how context gets lost and contradictions begin to fly—when we zero-in on a single verse from the Bible.

Anyone can make Scripture apply to their own preconceived doctrinal assumptions. We address Paul’s statement about having been found righteous and blameless under the law as he seemingly bragged about his record. He’s actually saying the opposite in this passage (and many others).

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722. True or False: God’s Grace Encourages Sinful Behavior

September 29, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

We recently received a correspondence that included a comment: “You can’t keep all of the Law, so don’t even try to keep any of it? Ok. How’s that adultery working out for ya??”

This was submitted from Program #711: The Dangers of Mixing Law and Grace (Part 1).

We take a few minutes to address this mindset which is rooted in a commonly misunderstood theory from the world of lifeless religion. Paul declared we are not under law, but under grace. Just because this is our reality in the New Covenant doesn’t mean God unleashed the dogs so they could run out into traffic. Grace does for us what the law could not … teaching us to deny ungodliness apart from fleshy, self-righteous effort.

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721. The Greatest Commandments in the Law (But Nobody Has Ever Done Them)

September 22, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Religious teaching will tell us to work at keeping the law of commandments, but it’s only a small portion that we hear about while most of it is ignored—which causes hypocrisy to loom very large. And when a commandment from the Old Covenant is broken, modern-day legalists will disobey the Law’s requirement to execute punishment—sometimes including death for what we consider to be minor offenses.

Even the greatest commandments from the law (according to Jesus) caused people to fall short of the perfect requirement … because nobody has ever loved God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength. Nobody has loved God by being diligently obedient to the command, but now we’re able to do so—and to love one another—not due to our effort of obedience, but because we have come to know and believe in God’s love for us. (1 John 4:10-16). It’s a different way—and a better covenant.

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720. God Doesn’t Change – But the Covenant Did

September 15, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

When Christians proclaim we as believers in Christ should try to live by the law as it was given to Moses, they advertise their ignorance on what the law says. It required perfection and everyone has fallen short of that. The requirement is still perfection, but it’s not found in what we do—it’s by what Jesus did. We are perfect, having been placed in Him.

Those who tout modern-day law keeping from the Old Covenant must also execute the punishments when one fails. For example, one who did not honor their father and mother and spoke evil of them was worthy of death. The good news is that God doesn’t change … but the covenant did … and the new one is better.

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The Deception of Self Righteousness

September 5, 2019 by Super User

One of the biggest deceptions in the world, especially in the Church, is that of performance-religion and self- righteousness. There’s a huge emphasis on maintaining the moral standards of the so-called “Judeo-Christian-value system.”

We hear: “I’m a good Christian.” “I belong to a church.” “I go to a home group.” “I read my Bible.” “I pray every day.” “I give my tithes.” “I try to live a good life and do my moral best.” “I don’t need to be set free because I’m already free.”

In reality, these are the people who need freedom the most.

I haven’t really struggled with knowing right or wrong and good or evil. For me, it was discerning between a life of self-righteousness and righteousness by faith.

Two Sides to Self-Righteousness

There are two sides to self- righteousness, both equally deceptive in keeping people bound.

The Good We Do!
The first area of bondage that self- righteousness produces is what Jesus called “making the word of God of no effect.” It’s the belief that I have it all together, and I’ve done my part or “better than most.”

Some people actually believe they have it all together and are fulfilling their side of a bargain with God. Jesus said to the Jews who thought they had it all together:

… “Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. … Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition ….” —Mark 7:9-13 (KJV)

The Jews taught that there was a way to be righteous by keeping the law, even if it meant they had to bend the law to do so.
But Paul said, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20 KJV).

The law was designed to draw man’s attention to his sin! What Jesus was saying to the Jews was that by bending the law to make it workable, they made the law or Word of God of no effect!

Simultaneously, there’s another side to this truth. JESUS IS THE WORD OF GOD! Legalism and self-righteousness makes JESUS and His work on the cross of no effect in our lives. If we could keep the law by our own efforts, then we’d have no need for Jesus!
The Evil We Do!
Legalism and self- righteousness create guilt, condemnation, and obligation. One of the purposes of the law was to make people see and understand that no one can be made righteous by keeping the law. The Jews were serving God, governed by rules, regulations and performance, which could never make them righteous before God. They needed to be set free, and so do many people today.

True Freedom:

We can never experience any form of freedom if we are not freed from the deception of performance-religion, legalism, and self-righteousness.

When Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32), He was saying: you will know “The Truth” (Jesus) and what He came to do. And Jesus will set you free from legalism, self-righteousness, and the condemnation and guilt of the law!

When we know “The Truth” about God’s love, we are set free from seeing an angry God who needs to be appeased and demands performance and sacrifice!

In Romans 3:21-25, Paul said:

“But now the righteousness of God WITHOUT the LAW is manifested … by faith of Jesus Christ … upon all them that believe… Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth … To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which BELIEVETH in Jesus.”

This is the freedom Jesus gave us. It’s this freedom we are to celebrate and grasp hold of every day!

Blessings,
Arthur Meintjes

715. Grace Is Never Dangerous

August 11, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

The bad news police who are established in a legalistic mindset will caution believers in Christ that too much teaching about God’s grace will lead to an unhealthy and perilous plight. Their tangled view of the testaments wrongly assumes grace needs to be balanced with law.

We’ve been supplied with an abundance of grace for a reason and it has no connection to law or a rules-based religion.

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714. Sin Increased Under Law – Grace Abounded More Through Jesus

August 4, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Hollow religion says a written code of commandments is needed in order to reduce sin and increase morality. There is just one problem with this approach … it’s the precise opposite of what Scripture reveals to us.

The law came for a purpose - to increase the trespass … not to reduce it. It’s only by grace and the gift of righteousness found in Jesus Christ that will allow for us to reign in life.

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713. The Dangers of Mixing Law and Grace (Part 3)

July 28, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Legalists who believe God’s grace needs to be balanced with a law of works will instinctively jump to the misguided conclusion that we grace renegades are encouraging people to break commandments from the Old Covenant and that sinning doesn’t matter. They are stuck in a religious trap which assumes law decreases sin and that grace inspires people to sin. It’s the precise opposite of what Scripture has revealed through the gospel. There is a reason why sin has no dominion over us in Christ, and the law has nothing to do with it.

“For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions” (1 Timothy 1:6-7).

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712. The Dangers of Mixing Law and Grace (Part 2)

July 21, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

If you’ve ever attended church for any length of time, it’s likely you’ve been taught to buy into a belief system that has blended law and grace together. Your mindset has been trained to filter the Bible through this perspective.

This approach to the gospel is an insult to the blood of Jesus and the finished work of the cross. It sprouts self-righteousness and does not lead to a greater knowledge of the truth.

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711. The Dangers of Mixing Law and Grace (Part 1)

July 14, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

The majority of Sunday sermons have established a mindset within believers that the gospel is based upon old covenant law being merged together with new covenant grace. Some things are not compatible and just don’t mix well together. The wrong combination of various liquids will either resist each other and refuse to blend or could even create toxicity. Law and grace are not compatible with each other and were never meant to be commingled.

“For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14).