|
According to Strong's Concordance Greek Dictionary; GRACE #5485 means a benefit, favour or gift. Grace simply
means, that Christ has paid the penalty for our sins on our behalf through the gift of His sacrifice. Since the penalty for
our sin has been paid as a free gift, we are no longer required to pay that penalty for ourselves. There is one small
requirement: WE MUST REPENT Acts 2:38, before that gift will be given. To REPENT means to CHANGE, to be sorry enough to stop
sinning! Now sin is the transgression of the law 1 Joh 3:4. To stop sinning, we must STOP TRANSGRESSING
THE LAW!
Grace or a pardon, covers sins REPENTED of. It does not justify
continuing in sin Rom 6:1-2 and Romans 6:15-16. Also read the entire book of James, as well as 1, 2 and 3 John. We MUST stop sinning and become like Christ, who had no sin. If you are pardoned by a judge for some
crime, does that then, give you the right to go out and repeat the crime at will? Of course not! Why try to use
such ridiculous reasoning to try and avoid doing God's will?
God's will is; that we keep His commandments.
The commandments of God are an expression of what God wants us to do. The commandments are an expression of His will.
They are His instructions, concerning what He expects of us, and how He wants us to behave.
How is it, that
some people dare to pray to the Father, Your will be done and then REFUSE TO DO HIS WILL THEMSELVES? To do this
is to MOCK GOD!
It is written that, sin is the transgression of the law 1 Joh 3:4. If we break
God's law, if we transgress His commandments, we have sinned. Now Paul tells us that if we sin willfully after that
we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains NO MORE SACRIFICE FOR SINS, Heb 10:26-31.
There
is NO GRACE, NO FORGIVENESS, NO SACRIFICE WITHOUT REPENTANCE.
REPENTANCE means to be SORRY enough
to CHANGE BEHAVIOUR. When you correct your child and he is sorry and resolves not to repeat his error, do you
not forgive him? If that child repeats his folly again and again and says sorry without any intention of stopping his
bad behaviour, he is just mouthing words and is not really sorry. In fact, he is a liar for claiming to be sorry when
he is not. This kind of behaviour reflects a complete lack of respect for the parent, and his judgement. WE ARE THE
CHILDREN OF GOD, He will not respect such behaviour any more than we would. He will NOT BE MOCKED. Why; Because He loves us.
He is love, His Word is love and His commandments are love. He loves all of us. His commandments reveal how to
love Him and one another. They reveal how to avoid harming ourselves or one another. For the Law is Just and Holy and
Good Rom 7:12.
Yes, we are saved by grace which is the free gift that has been given by Jesus Christ, who
gave Himself in our place, making possible the forgiveness of God. No, we are not saved by works, since no works can
make right, those things that we have done wrong. Grace is the forgiveness of those things that we have done wrong, our sins.
Such grace, such forgiveness, is made possible because Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sins in our place. Nevertheless
we make a MOCKERY of GRACE if we continue to do those things that required such a gift of GRACE in the first place. Indeed,
if we use the forgiveness of God as an excuse to remain in sin, we make a MOCKERY of the sacrifice of JESUS CHRIST, who gave
His life for us, so that we could be freed from the burden of sin. Rom 6:1-2 and Rom 6:15-16.
Jesus Christ
was nailed to the stake, He was made sin for us 2 Cor 5:21, paying the penalty that we owed for our wickedness. The
list of the commandments that we had broken, our indictment, was nailed to the stake with Him, blotting out the list of our
crimes against God, our sins Col 2:14. His sinless life and death paid for every sin on that list. If we then
continue to break those laws, we make a mockery of what he did for us. WE MUST STOP DOING THOSE THINGS THAT REQUIRED
SUCH A TERRIBLE SACRIFICE.
If we do not STOP sinning, there is no longer a sacrifice remaining for us Heb
10:26; and we are doomed to pay the penalty that we have so richly earned.
What then was done away,
by the sacrifice? Why those sins the we have REPENTED of and resolved with the help of God, not to repeat. The
Old Covenant was ended by the death of one of the parties of that Covenant, Jesus Christ, who was the God of the Old Covenant
before He became flesh Joh 1. The Levitical Priesthood ended and was replaced by the Eternal Priesthood of the Melchisedek order, the whole book of Hebrews. The WILL OF GOD REMAINS. GOD DOES NOT CHANGE Mal 3:6, therefore His will,
His desire for us, His Commandments DO NOT CHANGE!
The idea, that because a penalty has been paid
for past lawbreaking, it somehow justifies continuing to break the law, is simply a rather pathetic attempt at self-justification.
There is NO REMOVAL OF SIN EXCEPT BY DEATH Heb 9:22, for the wages of sin is death Rom 6:23. Either
we STOP our commandment breaking, which is sin and accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to ATONE for our sins, or we must
die for our own sins. The penalty MUST BE PAID and we MUST STOP doing those things that require such a penalty!
Those who do not stop will be destroyed Rev 20:15, for ONLY those who keep ALL THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD shall be given
access to ETERNAL LIFE Rev 22:14.
"Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient,
believes." [Dietrich Bonhoeffer]
"Cheap grace is the theology that expects the benefits of grace without
the sacrifice of obedience." [Dietrich Bonhoeffer]
|
