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Doers Are Justified! By Pastor Bill Taylor A publication of My Father's House, inc. Volume 5//Issue 3 But the doers of the law will be justified; (Rom2:13) Paul says we should be workmen who need not be ashamed rightly dividing the Word. (2Tim2:15) Today in most “churches” the apostasy has become so great and there are so many heresies, that almost nowhere is anyone rightly dividing the Word. The scripture cannot be broken. (Jn10:35) There’s a homogeneity of the scriptures and any doctrine that’s sound must be supported by all the scriptures without contradiction. For example, many false “churches” today believe “once saved/always saved” but Jesus says, “He that endures to the end will be saved.” (Mt24:13) Also other scriptures like Rom11:22 strongly come against “once saved/always saved” so it must be a fallacy, a misinterpretation of scripture, because God isn’t confused: telling one person he can’t lose his salvation and another he must be diligent to keep it. Then there’s grace without works. For by grace you’ve been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it’s the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Eph2:8-9) Some “churches” have decided anything you do is a “work” so you don’t need to obey God and your behavior has nothing to do with salvation because you’re saved by merely professing Jesus to be Savior. But the scriptures say Jesus is Lord and you’d better obey Him or you don’t believe! (Lk6:46) Over and over again when one rightly divides the scripture we find God looking for obedience in the Old Testament (Is1:19), Jesus preaching obedience in the Gospels (Jn14:21) and even in the Epistles Paul and the other apostles are still requiring obedience. (Rom6:16) So obeying God is a fundamental doctrine of salvation and anything that says obedience isn’t necessary is heresy! Thus those who claim obedience is a “dead work” or unnecessary are apostates and heretics who don’t rightly divide the Word of God. The Truth is they’re taking people to hell with their lies and are undermining the work of God. James says, “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.” (Jms2:24) This stands in the face of the Lutheran heresy “faith alone.” Many of the reformation churches are proud they trust in “faith alone.” They glory in their shame. They haven’t read James. You see that man is not justified by “faith alone.” True believers are justified by works of faith and not faith alone. (2:21) Again and again as we examine the apostate “churches” we see them take what the scripture says in one place and misinterpret it against what the bible says in other places. Whenever they do that they’re “breaking the scripture!” Recently we heard someone teaching that if you’re filled with the Spirit you’ll continually demonstrate you have love, joy, peace, etc. But in the book of Acts we find the Spirit filled believers weren’t primarily showing off love, joy, peace! The true evidence of being Spirit filled wasn’t “meekness” toward man but boldness! Consider Stephen full of faith and power when he rebukes the Pharisees with “You stiff necked and uncircumcised…you do always resist the Holy Spirit!” He’s bold and confrontational. Because he has the Holy Spirit he stands bravely for the Truth. But because he has the fruit of the Spirit he says, “Don’t count this sin to their charge” as they kill him. (Act7:51-60) The saints are mighty men of God, confronting evil, bold to stand for Truth especially against people who claim to be God’s but aren’t. Our battle is often between those who really know God and those who claim to but don’t. It doesn’t take much “spirit” to show off how much we love everybody but it takes the Holy Spirit to make men bold to stand up for God’s Word! Yet even in our boldness the love, joy and peace are there. Love casts out fear and the righteous are bold as a lion. (1Jn4:17;Pr28:1) So the best evidence you do have God’s love in you is the boldness to stand up for God’s Truth! This defeats the lie that many false “christians” believe, “You don’t have the fruit of the Spirit if you’re bold or you’re confrontational about what you believe.” Yet in the bible that’s the very evidence that shows we do have the Holy Spirit; when we know the Word of God and are bold to stand up for what God says! We’re not afraid to stand up for God’s Word because we love Him and He loves us and perfect love casts out fear. (1Jn4:18) We also love the brethren and we’re standing up for them when we won’t let the devil run over them with his heresies and lies. Just as in the book of Acts, God is using Spirit filled believers today to expose the fakers, charlatans, hypocrites, counterfeits, and those who pretend to know God when they don’t, or believe they know something when they know nothing yet as they ought to know. (1Cor8:2) God is exposing them – He’s making them ashamed and He’s using us to do that. Another false belief in many churches today is to think because we’re justified by faith we’re free from the law in the sense that anyone who confesses Jesus has “faith” and therefore isn’t under the written law. The scriptures however confirm the only people who are free from the written law are those who’ve attained to the higher law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. (Rom8:2) Anyone who doesn’t obey the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has not been made free from the written law. The law is still in effect as far as they’re concerned. This relates to, The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. (1Cor15:56) and The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. (v26) Why? Because death has a job to do. Death enforces the law. The law tells you what not to do but if you break the law death enforces the law by killing you. Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (v57) “O Death, where is your sting?” (v55) In Christ Jesus there’s a victory over death because if we’ll submit ourselves to the law of the Spirit of life in Christ we’re set free from the letter of the law and if we’re set free from the law we’re also set free from the penalty for breaking the written law which is death. Now we can keep the Spirit of the law. That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who don’t walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom8:4) There’s no sin in walking in the Spirit so there’s no sting. Therefore Christ has given us the victory over death if we are obedient to His Spirit. Not that our bodies won’t die, for if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (Rom8:10) This means because of sin in your flesh (body) the body will die – but because of righteousness in your spirit – your spirit won’t die. Thus Jesus says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My Word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” (Jn5:24) For with the heart one believes unto righteousness. (Rom10:10) Now a “Spiritual man” is one whose soul follows and clings to the indwelling Spirit of Christ and such a man, even though his body dies, his soul will not suffer death because by clinging to the Spirit of Christ in faith his soul has passed from death unto life. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (Rom8:6) Christ has tasted death for every man (Heb2:9) refers to His separation from God on the cross which “death” the Spiritual believer will never experience, being eternally in fellowship with Christ. (Jn17:24) There’s therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. (Rom8:1) If there’s no condemnation there’s no sin, no sting, no death because that’s all connected to condemnation. O Death, where’s your sting? O Hell, where’s your victory? The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law but Christ has given us the victory because, Jesus is the end of the law for righteousness to those who believe. (Rom10:4) Our righteousness is now attained thru obedience to Christ Himself and not thru obedience to the letter of the law. Therefore we won’t be stung or found sinners if we seem to break the letter of the law as long as we’re obedient to the Spirit of Christ. We’re still under a law. But the law we’re under is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. (Rom8:2) This law of the Spirit is a much better and more powerful law than the old letter. Because we’ve come to Christ in faith, You’ve died to the law that you might be married to another. (Rom7:4) If we’re married to Christ the letter law isn’t our lord, Jesus is our Lord. Now which is better, obeying the letter law or Jesus? Which makes you holier, obeying the letter law or obeying Jesus? The fallacy in many “churches” is to think they’re set free from the letter law because of a so called “belief” in Jesus when they don’t take hold of obedience to the Spirit of Jesus. But if you’re ignoring the letter law while you’re not obeying Christ you’re still in sin. This is going from bad to worse. Because the old law at least gave some sense of what was right but these disobedient “christians” have thrown the law away thinking, “Now we don’t need any law” while they haven’t taken hold of the law of the Spirit of life by obedience to Christ! The purpose of God in giving us the law of the Spirit in Christ is to take us out of an inferior way of holiness and into Christ’s superior and perfect way of holiness. So Christ has raised us above the lower law, which is obedience to the letter, into the higher law, which is obedience to the Spirit and we can attain a perfect holiness this way thru Christ’s Spirit if we’ll grasp it by faith. The strength of sin is the law. (1Cor15:56) Sin is the transgression of the law, so if there’s no law there can be no sin, since there can be no transgression. (Rom4:15) The law tells you what you shouldn’t do. And if you do any of those things you’ve broken the law so death has a right to sting you. The strength of sin is the law because there’d be no sin if there was no law; and the stronger the law the stronger the conviction for breaking it! Now if you’re obedient to the Spirit of Christ there’s no written law applicable to you so the power of sin and death towards you has been broken. (Rom8:2) If you obey Christ you’re not under the written law anymore. All things are lawful to me but they’re not all expedient. (1Cor6:12) So I don’t do all things. I’m not under the letter of the law but I’m not without law towards God. (1Cor9:21) I’m permitted by God to do anything which is helpful to the cause of Christ. It’s not like I have no law at all. But I’m no longer limited by rules and regulations, beggarly elements, touch not, taste not, handle not. (Col 2:21) If it’s expedient – if it’s helpful to the cause of Christ, I can do it and my conscience is clear knowing I’m not serving my flesh but I’m serving my Lord. The letter of the law doesn’t have power over me anymore. The royal law of love in Christ is the Spirit I’m now following. (Jms2:8) So I’ve attained to the Spirit which is better and more holy than the written law and in Christ therefore I’m delivered from the sting of death which is sin. For He must reign till He’s put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. (1Cor15:25,26) When everything is obedient to God and there’s no sin death has no value anymore because the purpose of death was to enforce the law by punishing sin. Jesus has the task of bringing all things into obedience to the Father. He’s working on that right now and succeeding first in us (Jms1:18), for if He’s purged the sin out of you He’s succeeded in bringing things into obedience to the Father in you. Now when Christ finally succeeds in subduing all things unto Himself, (Phil 3:21) then it’s like a corporation where you have different people doing different jobs and you find out one day, “We don’t need buggy whips anymore. We have automobiles now. We don’t have horses. Nobody buys buggy whips anymore. Bring in the buggy whip maker.” So the expert at making buggy whips, who knows how to make 47 different kinds of buggy whips and can do it ten times faster than anybody else is going to hear, “Sorry we don’t need your services anymore.” One day Jesus is going to call death into the office and say, “Death you’re out of work. There’s no one disobeying God so we no longer have any use for you.” And Jesus is going to fire death - throw him into the lake of fire. (Rev20:14) This explains many of our spiritual battles. Death doesn’t want to be put out of work, and satan’s the king of death, so he’s doing every thing he can to keep people buying horses so he can keep selling buggy whips. He’s working to keep people sinning because he doesn’t want to be fired. As long as people keep sinning death has a job to do. So he’s struggling to not be put out of work. Satan entices people to sin but Jesus is sending out a people, us, to break the power of sin and bring sinners into repentance and obedience to God so death can be destroyed. That’s the battle! Thus it’s error to teach Jesus has just come to forgive us - it wasn’t just to forgive us. It was to forgive us and make us holy! Whatever the New Covenant is must be a fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies concerning it otherwise the Jews could rightly call it a heresy! If a “church” says they’re New Covenant but they disagree with the Old Covenant prophecies concerning the New Covenant; if they disagree with what Isaiah, Ezekiel, or Jeremiah said the New Covenant would be then they’re a heretical church. So when “churches” say, “We’re just sinners but we’re forgiven!” it’s heretical because the Old Covenant prophets said in the New Covenant God would put a new Spirit within us and He’d compel us to keep His commandments. (Ezek36:27) So true New Covenant saints are an obedient people. If we’re now obedient to God, we’re not sinners anymore! Any church that says it’s “christian” but isn’t obedient to God and doesn’t teach obedience to God is heretical to what the New Testament church was prophesied to be. So anytime we look at something in the Old Testament describing what the New Testament church should be like, it gives us the ability to see where orthodox Christianity really lies. For example, Nevertheless I’ll remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, (the Old Covenant) and I’ll establish an (new) everlasting covenant with you. (Ezek16:60) That has to be the New Covenant because the Old Covenant wasn’t everlasting. The Jews broke it (Jer31:32) and so God disregarded it. (Heb8:9) And this is a characteristic of the New Covenant. Then you’ll remember your ways and be ashamed. And I’ll establish My covenant with you. Then you’ll know that I’m the LORD, that you may remember and be ashamed, and never open your mouth anymore because of your shame, when I provide you an atonement for all you’ve done. (Ezek16:61-63) The true New Covenant people will be so ashamed of their sin and so humbled that they’ll never speak in a way that’s proud or haughty again. Where that doesn’t exist you don’t have real “christianity!” Wherever you have pride instead of humility and contrition it isn’t the New Covenant! Can you imagine people still continuing to sin when they’re so ashamed of their past that they can’t even open their mouths? For this to be fulfilled, true believers must be deeply repentant even as in, “You’ll loathe yourselves in your own eyes.” (Ezek36:31) When “christians” continue living in an ungodly manner and claim to be saved – it’s heresy! Because if you’re really saved according to the prophecies of what the Old Testament said God would do to save us in the New Covenant, you’d loathe yourself when you look back on your sins and you’d be so ashamed you wouldn’t even want to talk about it. The last enemy is death which will be put away when all things are brought into obedience. Since that’s what God’s doing shouldn’t we be helping Him? Your Kingdom come, Your will be done. (Mt6:10) It’s God’s will everything be brought into obedience so we should be obeying God. God’s will should be done on earth as in Heaven. So we should do everything we can to learn God’s will and do it. (Eph5:10) The Spirit searches the deep things of God that we may know God’s will. (1Cor2:10) The Spirit shows us God’s will so we may do it. Thus it’s our place to ask and not tell God what to do. Many people think they’re praying when they boss God around in their prayers or they ask for things their flesh wants. (Jms4:3) It’s rare to find someone who actually says, “God show me Your will and help me do it.” Yet that’s the prayer that truly matches up with “Christ in you” New Covenant Christianity: I’ve come to do Your will O’ God. (Heb10:7) If a doctrine is true you’ll find it in the Old Testament (at least incipiently), in the gospels, and in the epistles. You’ll find the same truths in all three and if you’re Spiritual you’ll see the Word agrees with the Word in every place. A heretical doctrine may seem to agree with a scripture here and there but other scriptures will disagree with it. Because our God is one God, the Word of God is one Word, and you can’t cut pieces out of it. The Word can’t be broken. (Jn10:35) So unless your doctrine agrees with all the scriptures and there’s clarity in the whole bible being agreeable with what you believe then you don’t believe right. Very few “churches” these days believe right. And if they don’t believe right they can’t be the real church which is the pillar and ground of the Truth! (1Tim3:15) To really be of God the visible church must look like the scriptural and Spiritual church as described in the bible. She must be a visible representation of what God’s scriptural and Spiritual church should be. Unfortunately what’s visible today is mostly a heretical “church.” But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you’re treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God who’ll render to each one according to his deeds. (Rom2:5,6) Just because you become a “Christian” doesn’t mean you won’t be judged according to your deeds. This doctrine never changes – God who’ll render to each one according to his deeds. As when Paul says, “Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. May the Lord repay him according to his works.” (2Tim4:14) Or, “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he’s done, whether good or bad.” (2Cor5:9,10) Some false teachers say Christians will be judged only for rewards, but this isn’t a judgment just for reward. “Good or bad” means punishment or reward! God will render to each one according to his deeds: eternal life (reward) to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and don’t obey the Truth, but obey unrighteousness-- indignation and wrath, (punishment) tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what’s good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Rom2:7-10) To the “Christian” as well as the unbeliever! To gain eternal life you must work what’s good. For there’s no partiality with God. (vs11) For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law. (vs12) Ignorance of the law is no excuse. If you know the law you’re to obey the law and if you don’t know the law you’re still accountable to do right. Not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; (vs13) How can this be? Don’t the scriptures teach you can’t be justified by law. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (Rom3:20) The scriptures teach and it’s absolutely certain that by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified but it’s also absolutely certain that doers of the law will be justified. So how do we reconcile these scriptures because God has said both things? And until you can reconcile these scriptures and have a Christianity that can accept both scriptures and see the Truth in both of them you don’t have an orthodox doctrine. Here’s the Truth: Not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when Gentiles, who don’t have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them. (Rom2:13-15) The doers of the law who’ll be justified are those who have the law written in their hearts. Whereas people who try to justify themselves by the deeds of the law, but don’t have the law written in their hearts won’t be justified. So which are the ones who by patient continuance in doing good (Rom2:7) attain to eternal life? Those who are “doing good” only by occasionally or intermittently fulfilling the outward, external deeds of the law, won’t attain. But if you’re doing good continually because the law is written in your heart then you’ll be justified unto life! The Old Testament shows New Covenant believers must have the law written in their hearts. But this is the covenant that I’ll make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I’ll put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts. (Jer31:33) Doers of the law will be justified because they show the work of the law written on their hearts as God promises in the New Covenant He’ll write the law on the hearts of His people. I’ll be their God, and they’ll be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,” for they’ll all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I’ll forgive their iniquity, and their sin I’ll remember no more. (Jer31:33,34) All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children. (Is54:13) In another place in the Old Testament, God prophesies concerning the New Covenant, “I’ll put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you’ll keep My judgments and do them.” (Ezek36:27) So the believer who has a true New Covenant salvation must have the Spirit of God in his heart in such a way that he keeps the law from the heart not by the letter or merely by doing some deeds of the law. You can only be justified by keeping the law from the heart, where the “doing” is continual, joyful, and instinctive! It’s a lie to teach Christians that they’re free from the law in such a way as their behavior doesn’t matter. Those “churches” who teach such lies are helping to damn their own people. A true church would be helping God write His law in your heart, not on the one hand saying the law doesn’t matter or on the other giving you a hundred rules to follow. The true church will be teaching you the principles of love, the principles of godliness, the principles of Christ, or in other words the law of Christ, so you can follow the Spirit of Christ and attain to the justification that comes by faith and which puts the Spirit of Christ and His law in your heart. Anything that doesn’t do that is heresy. We aren’t heretics when we teach “doers of the law are justified.” God says they are! (Rom2:13) They’re heretics who teach behavior doesn’t matter. They’re the ones who don’t rightly divide the Word. Their “christianity” is heretical because it doesn’t agree with the Old Testament prophecies of what New Covenant Christians are to be. It doesn’t agree with what God said He’d do in and for His New Covenant people. So it’s their “faith” that’s erroneous. They have a false and presumptuous “faith” who believe behavior doesn’t matter! Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, won’t his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? And won’t the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? For he’s not a Jew who’s one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he’s a Jew who’s one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise isn’t from men but from God. (Rom2:26-29) Now compare: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. (Rom8:2) True Christians obey a higher law, the law of the Spirit! But now we’ve been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. (Rom7:6) I’ve been married to Christ. (vs4) I’ve died to the letter law (the law of sin and death) that I might be married to the Spirit of the law, Jesus Christ. So: The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. (Rom8:2) Now we know that whatever the (letter) law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. (Rom3:19) The letter law proves when someone’s a sinner and all the world with the exception of Spirit-led Christians is under the letter law. When they break this law they’re convicted because the law proves they’re guilty. That non Spirit-led “christians” aren’t exempt from this function of the law is proven in, But if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. (Jms2:9) Even if you’re a “christian” if the law convicts you, you’re a sinner. That’s what the law was made to do, convict sinners of their sins so they’d repent and stop being sinners. So the law hasn’t been repealed. Not even for the “christian.” Except in the sense that if you follow the law of the Spirit you won’t be convicted, because you’ll never sin if you’re truly following the Spirit. There’s no condemnation to one who’s following Christ because Christ’s Spirit never leads you to violate the Spirit of the law. But if you get out of the Spirit you’ll be convicted by the law. So the law isn’t meant to lead you but the Spirit is to lead you. However if you stop following the Spirit the law is there to convict you. Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law. (Rom3:31) Faith keeps you in the Spirit. (Gal 3:14) The law convicts you when you’re not in faith. For whatever isn’t from faith is sin. (Rom14:23) Remember Jesus said, “Don’t think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I didn’t come to destroy but to fulfill.” (Mt5:17) Does your “church” make void the law thru faith? They’re false christians and heretics who preach the law is void because of faith when Paul says, “Faith establishes the law!” The bible shows the law is necessary to show sinners their sin. But if you’ll repent of your sin and seek God’s help to stop sinning, He’ll give you Christ’s Spirit in baptism. (See our Glory of His Grace book “Baptism and Salvation”) And if you follow the Spirit of Christ, He’ll make you holy so you won’t be sinning anymore as long as you follow His Spirit by faith. Then you won’t be convicted by the law. You’ll be without condemnation for against such things as the Spirit does there’s no law. (Gal 5:23) How do we get out from under the law? Only by following the Spirit in faith are we free from the written law. And when we have the Spirit, the love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance of Christ in us we know we’re in God. In the Spirit we’re the righteous who are bold as a lion, (Pr28:1) we’re free from condemnation and we’re walking in that perfect love which casts out fear. (1Jn4:17) All of that’s ours in Christ. But get out of the Spirit and conviction comes by the law. Condemnation comes because you’re automatically under the law when you’re out of the Spirit. And that’s what the law is there for. It’s not done away with. If the law were done away with there’d be nothing to compel you to stay in the Spirit. Do we make void the law thru faith? No! It’s because of the law we see our need for faith to stay in the Spirit. Because if we’re back under the law we’re back under death. We get out from under the law by repentance, and by submitting to the righteousness of God and taking hold of the Spirit thru faith who lifts us out of the law of sin and death and puts us under the higher law of life in Christ. (Rom8:2) If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You’ll love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; (Jms2:8) Walking in the Spirit is walking in love. The love of God is shed abroad in our heart by the Holy Spirit. (Rom5:5) That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who don’t walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom8:4) By walking in the Spirit we fulfill the royal law. Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. (Rom13:8) For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there’s any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Rom13:9-10) But he’s a Jew who’s one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise isn’t from men but from God. (Rom2:29) It’s not like we’re “showing off” the fruit of the Spirit since it’s God who gives us praise not men. Many men don’t appreciate Godly behavior. Often true Christians offend them! Stephen offended men. Many men are Christ haters. Because we’re true believers they also hate us. (Jn15:18) We read the bible and love the bible and spend a lot of time teaching each other God’s Word. Doesn’t that make us look like Jesus? We pray, seek God’s will, and with all our hearts we really try to do God’s will. Doesn’t that make us like unto Jesus? We’re willing to lose our lives for Jesus to please the Father, lay down the things of this world and pick up the cross. Doesn’t that make us look like Jesus? And we see so many people around us who claim to be “christians” who don’t do these things and yet they say we’re elitist, or perfectionists, or cultists. If they hate us because we do these things that make us look like Jesus then they certainly hate Jesus. They claim to love Him but they hate anyone who looks like Him, or anyone who acts like Him. So they claim to love Him but they’re liars. They’re Christ haters in actuality and they deceive themselves. The more you look like Jesus, the more they hate you. Because they don’t like Jesus when they meet Him in person. They don’t like the real Jesus. They just like their idea of Jesus but their idea of Jesus isn’t Jesus. They think the “Jesus” they love, who does read His bible, who does pray, who does do the will of the Father will look at them disobeying in all of these things and say, “I just love you so much. I’m going to let you into Heaven anyway.” That’s the kind of Jesus they love whereas in reality Jesus is saying, “I don’t know you. You’re wicked, rebellious, disobedient to God, you’re haters of holy people and lovers of wicked people; you love unrighteousness!” And one day they’ll hear the real Jesus say, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire.” (Mt25:41) He’ll send them to hell, because they don’t love Him and they don’t love His Father. They aren’t like Him. They like to think, “We aren’t like Him but He loves us anyway.” The Truth is only those who love Him enough to be like Him are going to heaven. (1Jn3:2,3) You must receive His Spirit to be like Him and you must want to be like Him. And if you don’t like His people who are like Him, you won’t like Him when you meet Him and He won’t like you. He’s going to throw you out and that’s the Truth! What’s wrong with most “christians” today is they deceive themselves, thinking Jesus likes them when they’re wicked but He hates their evil. I have hated the assembly of evildoers, and will not sit with the wicked. (Ps26:5) He wants them to change. He’s offering true believers the opportunity to change and become like Him. (Col 1:27,28) Paul says our circumcision must be in the Spirit and not in the letter. (Rom2:29) For By the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified. (Rom3:20) Yet he also says, “for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them.” (Rom2:13,15) So the justified must have the work of the law written in their hearts but notice Paul didn’t say “works” of the law for by the “works” (deeds) of the law no one will be justified. But by the “work” of the law you will be justified. This is the same as that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who don’t walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom8:4) The “work” of the law is the same as the righteous requirement of the law and that will be fulfilled in those who walk according to the Spirit because the “work” of the law is love; “the royal law of love” James calls it. Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Rom13:10) And the love of God is shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit. (Rom5:5) All the law is fulfilled when the Spirit puts the “work” of the law, Christ’s love, in my heart so I’m a doer of the law. “Am I my brothers Keeper?” Yes I am. The love of my brother is in my heart, so the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in me. When the “work” of the law is written in my heart I know I’m to do no harm to my brother and I always desire to do whatever good I can to save my brother and that “work” will come out in my behavior, word, and actions in ten thousand different ways. And every one of those ways will be acceptable to God because they all arise from, every one of these deeds, words, every one of these works all come out of the work of the law, which is God’s love in my heart. When people don’t have the work of the law in their hearts it takes ten thousand rules to keep them from sinning and they’ll still find another way to sin. Even if they keep all the written rules there’ll be an unwritten rule they’ll break. Because if the work of the law isn’t written in their heart the only thing that restrains them is the letter and whenever the letter fails to cover an area where they could hurt someone they’ll hurt someone because they don’t have love to restrain them. So by the deeds of the law no flesh can be justified because even if you’ve kept ten thousand “deeds” of the law that can’t save you from, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he’s guilty of all!” (Jms2:10) For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law. (Rom2:12) Because even though you may not know if there’s a written “law” against this one “deed” you did wrong if it was a breach of the law of love, you’ve sinned. And because of that your conscience will testify against you because your conscience knows you’re to love your neighbor as yourself. (Rom13:9) All the law is fulfilled in that. Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you. (Mt7:12) You don’t need to memorize ten thousand rules and behave according to those rules to make you good. The fact that you have to look at so many rules to keep your behavior good is an indictment against you because you wouldn’t need all those rules if your heart was good. (1Tim1:9,10) The Old Covenant people needed rules because their hearts weren’t good. And God gave them the law as a temporary obedience to lead them to Christ. (Gal 3:23) The law was superior to lawlessness as in the days before Noah’s flood. And God gave the law to help men by restraining their evil, though He knew the law wouldn’t make men good. In numerous ways God has demonstrated His righteousness throughout the ages. He says, “I’ll let mankind try this to see it doesn’t work. I’ll let mankind try that to see it doesn’t work.” He’s allowed us to try every false way of attaining to righteousness that we can acknowledge our failure and receive His way. He’s done that with mankind in general and He does it with man in specific. Which means if you’re being saved you’ve been thru it too. You’ve tried everything else and finally come to faith in Christ because He’s the only way that works. You tried living by your own ideas of right and wrong but that didn’t work. You tried establishing your own righteousness by keeping rules but that didn’t work. Finally you admitted to God, “I’m a failure but, Lord, please save me.” And when He puts the law of Christ, God’s love in your heart, He doesn’t need to give you ten thousand rules. All He says is, “Love your neighbor and do what I show you.” And that covers every situation you’ll ever face. Because having the work of the law written in your heart gives you the understanding of God’s purposes so you can apply His wisdom to every situation that comes along. In every circumstance the love of God will keep you from the flesh. If you’ll turn to Him He’ll always make a way of escape. (1Cor10:13) He’ll open the right path to you, give you grace to do it and you won’t need a thousand rules to follow. You’ve got Christ Himself to follow. So your righteousness becomes the righteousness of God because you’re depending on Him to give you the strength, the light, the grace to do whatever’s needed. And because the love of God is shed abroad in your heart, He will. (Rom5:5) Faith works by love. (Gal 5:6) For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you’ll by no means enter the Kingdom of heaven. (Mt5:20) The superior righteousness Jesus requires is an inward righteousness of the heart. (Mt5:28) So the Old Testament, the Gospels and the Epistles all preach this same thing. The Old Testament prophesies of the New Covenant; “I’ll write My law in your hearts.” (Jer31:33) Jesus says, “You need a righteousness of the heart.” (Mt5:28) The Epistles say, “Doers of the law will be justified, (Rom2:13) who show the work of the law written in their hearts.” (vs15) So the whole of the scriptures agree and the scripture isn’t broken. (Jn10:35) “But this is the covenant that I’ll make with the house of Israel after those days,” says the LORD: “I’ll put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I’ll be their God, and they’ll be My people.” (Jer31:33) I’ll give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I’ll take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I’ll put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you’ll keep My judgments and do them. (Ezek36:26,27) The Old Testament tells us what the New Covenant will be, as the epistles confirm. Clearly you’re an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. (2Cor3:3) Who’s writing the law on your heart? The Spirit is but also the preacher! Am I giving you a thousand different rules to follow or am I teaching you how to know Christ, teaching you how to stay in the love of Christ, helping you to know Christ intimately by the Spirit, and do His will? So salvation isn’t by rules but by knowing the living Christ, and obeying the Spirit of the living Christ. True New Covenant believers aren’t focusing on some doctrine that says they’re saved (“once saved/always saved”) or on being free from the law. New Covenant believers are focusing on Christ and getting to know God by His Spirit. God is putting His Word into our hearts. He’s forming Christ in us! (Col 1:27) He’s filling us with the love of Christ; love for the Father and love for the brethren. When people run to the bible to see, “Can I or can I not do this?” That can be evil if they’re looking for loopholes. But if they’re going to prayer asking, “Lord, show me what to do. Lord, show me what Your will is here,” and they’re truly seeking only to please God then that’s Spiritual. We’re not looking for rules. We’re looking for the love of God to lead us so we can stay in the Spirit where there’s no condemnation. God’s rules and commandments are good and it’s good to know them. They give us a strong indication of which way we ought to go. But the rules must lead us to Christ. (Gal 3:24) Only He can show us how to keep His commandments from the heart! And when someone nit picks the rules in order to justify selfishness, something’s wrong with their heart because they wouldn’t want to find a way around the rule if the love of God was in their heart. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the Kingdom of heaven. (Mt5:20) It’s not enough to keep the deeds of the law. The Pharisees do that. The law has to be in your heart. You’ve heard it said, “You shall not commit adultery.” But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Mt5:27,28) Resisting the urge to commit adultery won’t save you if your heart is evil. Adultery is a wicked spirit. It does grave damage to families, marriages, friendships, and children. No one who loves others would commit adultery. You can’t love the person you commit adultery with. You’re destroying their soul, destroying their marriage, deeply injuring their spouse and children. No one who loves can do such a thing. So the letter law says, “Don’t do it” and you say, “I won’t do it because I don’t want to go to hell.” But in your heart you think, “I wish I could.” Then you’re wicked in your heart! You don’t have a true understanding of what love is. So the righteousness of not doing it for fear of punishment won’t save you if your heart’s wicked. Whereas the person who says in his heart, “I couldn’t do such a thing to that person and their family. I couldn’t think to do such a thing. What a wicked thing to do!” He’s not even tempted to commit adultery because he hates the thought of doing something that would do such hurt to people. The law is written in his heart and that means he’s not righteous just because he does things the law says to do. He’s righteous because he loves. And he’s not good because at times he keeps some of the precepts of the law. He’s always good because his heart is good. The goodness (righteousness) that God’s looking for is that you’d have a good heart and a good heart doesn’t do evil. It doesn’t matter how many good deeds you do if you’re evil in your heart. But how different from that is the idea, “We’re not under the law but grace so we don’t have to do good deeds.” You’re still evil in your heart and not doing good deeds either. That’s doubly wicked! The whole point of the New Covenant is we’re to have a clean heart, a heart filled with love that doesn’t want to do anything to hurt anyone but rather does things helpful to people. This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who’ve believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. (Tit3:8) Also we’re not to be companions to false christians, false teachers, or false prophets who are leading souls to hell. (2Jn10,11) We’re required by love to blow the trumpet and tell people their sins so they have an opportunity to repent and escape damnation. (Is58:1) Love makes us shout. Love makes us blow the trumpet. Love makes us confront evil. Love makes us stand up for what will save souls and uncover the lying doctrines by which satan deceives men and takes them to hell. If you can see that then you can understand unless the work of the law, God’s law of love, is written in your heart, for God is love, (1Jn4:8) you aren’t justified. It’s heresy to think that because you “believe” in Jesus you can live any way you want and still go to heaven. Because not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; (Rom2:13) is just as true as: Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified.. (Rom3:20) Both scriptures are true. It’s not the deeds of the law that we do. It’s not the letter of the law that we fulfill. But we show the “work of the law” written in our hearts by patient continuance in doing good. (Rom2:7) And that patient continuance in doing good doesn’t come out of an effort to fulfill the letter of the law. It comes out of a good heart that always does good because of the Spirit and love of Christ in us. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor isn’t in vain in the Lord. (1Cor15:58) Because the work of the law is written in your heart you’ll abound in the work of the Lord and your labor won’t be in vain for it’s the Lord who works thru you to will and to do of His good pleasure. (Phil 2:13) The Lord is working to accomplish something that’s going to bring all things into obedience until finally He can do away with death. And He’s using us to show people their disobedience, to show them what’s wrong and how to do right. He’s making us fruitful! God isn’t wasting us. Our labor isn’t in vain in the Lord! And even if we aren’t the last generation, we’re taking a great step towards the final Kingdom. So we’re accepted in the Beloved because the things Christ is using us to do will bring His true church much closer to the fulfillment of the scriptures, closer to the time when she’ll be complete; glorious and without a spot or wrinkle. As true Christians we’re justified by being doers of the law and because in the Spirit we fulfill the law not by the letter, but by the work of the law being written in our hearts Christ brings forth a constant stream of the works of God through us! This is the Spirit of a real salvation. And you find this where? Old Testament – Gospels – Epistles! We know who the heretics are. We aren’t the heretics. It’s those who’s “christianity” doesn’t agree with the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the Epistles who are the heretics. God knows it, we know it, and now you know it! Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. (1Jn5:21)
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