THE TRUE AND FALSE GRACE OF GOD (PART - 2) Pastor Art Watkins of Coden Bible Church (Coden, Alabama) May 3, 2013 FALSE GRACE DECLARES THERE ARE NO LAWS OR ORDINANCES UNDER GRACE, WHEREAS, TRUE GRACE DECLARES THERE ARE! Some believers are deceived into believing that because God abolished the Law of Moses there are no laws binding on believers under grace. But what saith the scriptures? Compare the following verses with each other and read carefully what Paul says about law and laws under grace in his epistles. Ephesians 2:15 says; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; Compare this with: Romans 13:8-10 says: Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. It seems to be a contradiction in these verses. In Ephesians Paul says the law is abolished, but in Romans he says we should keep it and obey it. Did Paul contradict himself? In Romans 6:14-15 he said: For ye are not under the law, but under grace two times, but in 1 Corinthians 9:20-21 he said: we are not without law to God, but under the law to Christ. We know Paul did not lie, but how do you explain this seeming contradiction? In Romans 6 he says we are not under the law, but in 1 Corinthians 9, he says we are. In Romans 7:22 he wrote; For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. In verse 25 he wrote: I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God. Paul rebuked the Galatians for serving the law (Gal. 4:9-10) but in these verses he delighted in the law of God and served it himself. How do we answer these seeming contradictions? The answer is this; The law Paul said we should keep in Romans 13, which he served and obeyed in Romans 7, is called the Law of God, whereas the law that was abolished in Ephesians 2:15 is the Law of Moses. The Law abolished in Ephesians 2:15 is the laws and ordinances God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai concerning such things as: animal sacrifices, feast days, holy days, dietary laws, temple worship, the priesthood, ect. The Law of God is the moral commandments of God that have been in force from the beginning and will never be abolished. They are the 9 moral laws of the 10 commandments. The law concerning the Sabbath day was a sign between Israel and God, (Exd. 31:14-17) but the other 9 are binding on all men in all ages. The law of God is the law Paul said was holy, just, good and spiritual in Romans 7:12, 14. It is the law he said we are under in 1 Corinthians 9:20-21, Galatians 6:2. It’s the law he served and delighted in according to Romans 7:22, 25. It’s the law Christ said would never be destroyed and the one he kept and fulfilled in Matthew 5:17-18. It’s the law God commanded us to keep in Romans 13:8-10. It’s the law written in the hearts of men in Romans 2:14-16. No one will ever be free from the law of God. No one will ever be free from the commandment that says; ****Thou shalt have no other gods before me. ****Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: ****Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. ****Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. (Eph. 6:1-5) ****Thou shalt not kill. ****Thou shalt not commit adultery. ****Thou shalt not steal. ****Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. ****Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's (Exodus 20). These Laws were in force long before God gave the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. In the first book of the Bible, God said in Genesis 26:5 concerning Abraham; Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. This was said to Abraham 100’s of years before Moses went up on Mount Sinai to receive what we call the Law of Moses. The Law of God has from the beginning of the world been in force and will always be in force. No one has ever or will ever be free from the moral law of God contained in the 9 commandments. It is the duty of all God's creatures to obey this law. The creature is subject to his creator and is bound to keep his law. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 says: Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. What Arthur W. Pink said about the Law of God: Has human nature so improved, is man so much better than he was three thousand years ago, that he no longer stands in need of the Divine law? If the covenant people of old were required to have such statutes are the Gentiles of today any less self-sufficient? Are men now so little prone to idolatry that they need not the divine command; thou shalt have no other gods before me? Has the enmity of the carnal mind been so refined that it is no longer timely to say; thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain? Are the children of the 21century A.D. so devoted to their parents that it is unnecessary to say to them; honour thy father and mother? Is human life now held in such reverence that iti s idle to say thou shalt not kill? Has the marriage relationship come to be so sacredly regarded that thou shalt not commit adultery is an insult? And ist here now so much honesty in the world that it is a waste of breath to remind men that God says thou shalt not steal? Rather is it not true that in the light of present conditions these commandments need to be thundered forth from every pulpit in the land? All that I can say to this is AMEN and AMEN. Let no man deceive you, the moral laws of God were not abolished when the Laws of Sinai were. The Law of God has and will always be binding on all men of all ages including this age of grace. No one has ever or will ever have freedom from these laws. They are not and will never be abolished. ORDINANCES UNDER GRACE In Colossians 2:14 Paul wrote: Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. Many people assume from this verse there are no ordinances under grace because it says they are nailed to the cross. But the handwriting of ordinances nailed to the cross was those given before the cross and not after. They are the religious ordinances of the Law of Moses according to Ephesians 2:15. Paul the greatest “grace preacher" of all time gave the church ordinances to keep. In 1 Corinthians 11:2 he said: Keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. The same man who wrote Colossians 2:14 also wrote 1 Corinthians 11:2. Did he contradict himself? No. The ordinances of 1 Corinthians 11:2 are different than those in Colossians 2:14. How could they be the same if the ones in Colossians 2:14 were nailed to the cross, whereas the ones in 1Corinthians 11:2 were given years after the cross? Let no man deceive you with good words and fair speeches, there are laws and ordinances under grace and any man that denies this fact, does not understand the law or grace. FALSE GRACE DECLARES THERE IS NO CONDEMNATION OR CHASTISEMENT OF THE BELIEVER UNDER GRACE, WHEREAS TRUE GRACE DECLARES THERE IS! One bible teacher says: The law demands good works and uses its terror--fear of punishment, rejection, shame, unanswered prayer, personal tragedy, etc.--as motivation. Here performance is a necessity to secure the blessing and avoid the curses. Grace, on the other hand, allows us to serve on a different basis--NOT FROM FEAR but on the basis of love and gratitude, from appreciation and gladness for blessings freely given and freely received. That sounds good, but there are some major errors in these statements about both law and grace. The writer would have us to believe a man under the law did not serve God out of love and gratitude, but out of fear only. Men who teach such things obviously do not understand the law, nor spend much time reading the Old Testament. There were many saints who served God under the law out of love, gratitude, appreciation, and gladness. Some probably had more love, gratitude, and appreciation than most Christians today under grace. Another serious error in these statements is to insinuate we need not fear punishment under grace as a man did under the law. I know for a fact the writer of the article mentioned afore does not believe God chastens believers under grace. I've seen and heard him stand in the pulpit and mock and ridicule those who believe in chastisement under grace. His argument is; God cannot punish you for sin if he has forgiven you of all sin. On the surface that sounds like a good argument. But, you cannot prove such a theory with Paul's epistles. His epistles very plainly say God chastises believers he has forgiven under grace. Look closely at the following verses and see for yourself God does indeed punish members of the body of Christ for sin. Hebrews 12:5-11 5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. These verses tell us many things about chastisement: ----God chastens every son he receives. ----God chastens us because he loves us. ----If God does not chasten you, you don't belong to him. ----God chastens us for our profit. ----God chastens us to make us holy. Even though these verses are very clear many believers do not accept them. Why? Because they are written to the Hebrews. They say these things may be true of the Hebrews, but they are not true of us. But the book of Hebrews is not the only book where you find Christians chastised for their sins. It is found in the very books grace believers say are written to the body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 says: Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If anyman defile the temple of God, HIM SHALL GOD DESTROY; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. According to these verses, what will God do to the man who defiles the temple of God? Paul the apostle of grace said: HIM SHALL GOD DESTROY. Think about it; the same man who said in Colossians 2:13 God forgave you of all trespasses, says God will destroy you if you defile the temple of God. 1 Corinthians 5:4-5 says: In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one unto Satan for the DESTRUCTION OF THE FLESH, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. This man in the church at Corinth defiled the temple of God by committing fornication. What happened to him? He was delivered unto Satan for the destruction of his flesh. Was he a saved man? Yes. Was he under grace? Yes. Were all his trespasses forgiven? Yes. Did that keep him from being put to death for his sin? NO! 1 Corinthians 11:29-30 says: For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh DAMNATION to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are WEAK and SICKLY among you, and many SLEEP. Were these Corinthians in the body of Christ? Yes. Were they under grace? Yes. Were all their trespasses forgiven? Yes. Did they sin against God? Yes. What did God do to these saints under grace? He punished some with weakness. He punished some with sickness. He punished some with death. The Apostle of grace says God will make you WEAK because of sin. God will make you SICK because of sin. And God will KILL YOU because of sin. 1 Corinthians 11:31-34 says: For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, WE ARE CHASTENED OF THE LORD, that we should not be condemned with the world. According to Paul, what happens to believers under grace if they do not judge themselves when they sin? God judges them. What happens when God judges us for sin? It says: WE ARE CHASTENED OF THE LORD. After reading these verses I want to give you a simple test. ----Does God chasten saints he has forgiven? ----Does he destroy believers he has forgiven? ----Does he kill believers he has forgiven? ----Does God make saints weak and sick he has forgiven? There is only one answer, YES. If your theological system teaches men God does not punish believers under grace, you had better change your system. If you believe the grace of God allows sin to go unpunished today, you do not believe in the true grace of God Paul preached. You have been deceived by the false grace Jude warned about in Jude 1:4. It is a dangerous and serious error to teach people God does not punish and chasten believers under grace. Those who teach this lie are inviting disaster in their own life and in the lives of those who follow them. You had better follow Paul in this matter and be safe. When someone teaches doctrines that allow sin to go unpunished, a red flag ought to go up in the minds of every believer. When you hear someone teach this lie you had better get as far away from him as possible for he is one of the false teachers Jude said turn the grace of God into lasciviousness. The reason this false doctrine about chastisement has gained such wide acceptance is because it gives carnal Christians the idea they have a license to sin as they please with no repercussions. Don't be deceived by this false teaching, for if you are, you will suffer now and later at the judgment seat of Christ.