Contents

Lesson

1: Two Components of Grace

Lesson

2: Three Covenants worth Understanding

Lesson

3: The Purpose of the New Covenant

Lesson

4: Did Jesus End the Law or Not?

Lesson

5: The Law Arouses Sin

Lesson

6: The True Test of the Gospel we Preach

Lesson

7: Forgive To Be Forgiven?

Lesson

8: Spirit, Soul and Body

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9: Righteousness through the Law, Pt 1

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10: Righteousness Through the Law, Pt 2

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11: First Adam and Last Adam

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12: Nullification of the Law

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13: The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15)

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14: Can a Christian “Fall Out of Grace”?

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15: Do Christians Need to Repent?

Lesson

16: What is the Unforgivable Sin?

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17: Is Grace Simply a License to Sin?

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18: Do Christians Have a Sinful Nature? (Indwelling Sin)

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19: Why do Christians Sin? Pt 1 (Unrenewed Mind)

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20: Why do Christians Sin? Pt 2 (External Temptations)

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21: Understanding the Book of Job

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22: Super Abounding Grace!

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23: Saved by Grace, But What Comes Next?

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24: Do Christians Need to Confess Their Sins? Pt 1 (James 5:16)

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25: Do Christians Need to Confess Their Sins? Pt 2 (1 John 1:9)

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26: Making Your Brother Stumble

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27: Sons of Abraham

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28: Why Live Holy?

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29: Is God Angry with Unbelievers?

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30: Commands in the New Covenant

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31: Heavenly Treasures

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32: Walking After the Flesh (Unrenewed Mind)

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33: Will Obeying the Law Give Me Victory Over Sin?

Lesson 1: Two Components of Grace

Grace has two components, namely Acceptance Grace and Empowerment Grace:

Acceptance Grace is the way we relate to God, namely through the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ on our

behalf. This component of grace is the foundation of the gospel. Grace came in the form of a person,

namely Jesus Christ.

For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:17

NKJV, emphasis added)

The law was given from a distance (impersonally), but grace came personally and dwelled among us.

The apostle Paul took great care to build his gospel on the foundation of grace (who is Christ) in all the early

churches:

According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the

foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no

other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Cor 3:10-11 NKJV)

We ALW AYS need to relate to God in this way, because this is the only way that He relates to us.

Empowerment Grace is that supernatural enabling which allows us to do things that would normally be

beyond our natural ability or effort. As we are swallowed up by God’s amazing grace and we begin to get

rid of the “I have to” mentality, we find a breathtaking “I want to” attitude that begins to rise up inside us,

which is of course the Holy Spirit communicating His desire to live through us, endowing us with all of

heaven’s infinite resources and aspirations.

We are the vessels through which God wants to show Himself strong; we are the channels through which

He wants His power to flow; we are His conductors through which heaven invades the earth, allowing the

Father’s will to be done in this broken world. This is the essence of Empowerment Grace.

Spiritual Immaturity

Believers need to be firmly established in Acceptance Grace. In other words, if we are to explore the depths

of God’s love and His kindness towards us, go further and also discover the wonders of the New Creation and

Empowerment Grace, we firstly need to be firmly rooted in Acceptance Grace, which the apostle Paul

calls “the word of righteousness”:

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first

principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For

everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.

(Heb 5:12-13 NKJV, emphasis added)

Many believers remain unskilled in the word of righteousness for years even though they know they have

been saved by grace. The symptoms of being unskilled in the word of righteousness are easy to detect:

1) You constantly need someone to tell you that God still loves you and even though you know this, you

don’t really believe it.

2) You are never really sure that if you were to die right now that you are actually going to heaven.

3) You lack confidence in approaching God because of guilt about something you’ve done.

4) You mostly feel that you are not doing enough for God to be pleased with you; etc. The list goes on

and on...

It is impossible for anybody to truly know God without understanding righteousness, grace and the New

Covenant. It is our trust that these lessons will go a long way in removing the confusion that exists in the

church about the true nature of God and that it will help us to approach Him with boldness and

confidence because we have been made righteous and holy forever through the finished work of the cross,

even though our behavior may not always look like it.

Lesson 2: Three Covenants worth Understanding

There are many covenants in the Bible, but here we will only focus on three, the first two being

covenants which God had made with man and the third one which was made within the Trinity itself. If we

comprehend these three covenants it will make the Bible much clearer and simpler to understand. Firstly

however we must understand the difference between a covenant and a promise:

When God makes a promise, we have to put our faith in that promise for it to come to pass:

…but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (Heb 6:12 NKJV, emphasis

added)

…who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the

mouths of lions. (Heb 11:33 NKJV, emphasis added)

However, when God makes a covenant it will come to pass, whether we believe it or not. God can not lie and

when He takes an oath, He always does what He says. Let’s look at those three covenants:

First Covenant

God appears to Abraham and makes a covenant to be Abraham’s God and to multiply and bless him.

Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: “As for Me, behold, My covenant is

with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but

your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you

exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish

My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an

everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. (Gen 17:3-7 NKJV)

There were no strings attached. Abraham also didn’t do anything to deserve any of this; he didn’t keep any

laws or live unusually holy. As a matter of fact, some theological scholars believe Abraham was an Iraqi who

worshipped pagan Gods! He disobeyed God by sleeping with his wife’s servant (Hagar) and through

this single act of disobedience gave birth to Ishmael, who became the father of all the Arab nations as we

know them today. His wife Sarah later gave birth to Isaac, the son who was born according to the promise

and who became the father of the Israelites. And we know that up to this day there exists a continuous conflict

between these nations.

Abraham also lied twice about his wife Sarah (once to the Pharaoh in Genesis 12 and once to Abimelech

the king of Gerar, in Genesis 20) and alleged that she was his sister. Abraham was afraid that they would kill

him due to the fact that she was a very beautiful woman.

Now even though Abraham was clearly in the wrong here, God didn’t rebuke him for it but instead rebuked the

pharaoh!

But the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.

(Gen 12:17 NKJV)

And later again God rebuked the king of Gerar and not Abraham:

But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, "Indeed you are a dead man

because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife". (Gen 20:3 NKJV)

Who was in the wrong here? Abraham! Who did God rebuke? The king! This was because God

had established a covenant with Abraham and neither with the pharaoh nor the king. And because God

always keeps His part of the bargain, Abraham was favored by God because of this covenant.

We just saw that Abraham had lied about his wife, but because of God’s blessing on his life he came out of

Egypt (and later also out of Gerar) laden with slaves and cattle and wealth! Now by this we are not saying that

people should go out and lie to other people and deceive them in order for God to bless them! We are by

no means endorsing immoral living, but this just serves to illustrate that God blessed Abraham regardless of

his level of obedience. God blessed Abraham even though he lied!

There was no moral standard to live up to, since the Law of Moses which included the 10 Commandments

was only introduced 430 years later, which brings us to the second covenant.

Second Covenant

This is described in the Bible as the “Old Covenant”, where God gave the law and the 10 Commandments to

Moses.

Israel had kept on murmuring and complaining ever since God had led them out of Egypt with mighty

signs and wonders. They also didn’t want to have a personal relationship with God, but instead always

asked Moses to speak to God on their behalf. They were uncomfortable with having to “deal” with God

personally and preferred to remain at a distance. Despite of all the goodness that God had shown them they

always kept on murmuring and complaining, even saying that God and Moses wanted to kill them!

And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land

of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought

us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. (Ex 16:3 NKJV)

The tragedy of this is that in Exodus 15 (the previous chapter) Israel had just sung a song about the

goodness of God and about how He had delivered them from the Egyptians when the waters of the Red Sea

closed over them. And here in the very next chapter they accuse Him of wanting to kill them!

This happened again and again, time after time. Eventually, because Israel refused to believe that God

was on their side, He gave them the law and all the other commandments to keep, something that didn’t

require any faith from their side (faith in God’s goodness):

Then he [Moses] took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they

[Israel] said, “All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient.” And Moses took the blood,

sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made

with you according to all these words”. (Ex 24:7-8 NKJV, annotations added)

The Sin of Unbelief

In Galatians 3 we read more about why the law was given to Israel:

What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should

come to whom the promise was made. (Gal 3:19 NKJV)

Israel’s transgression was their persistent unbelief in the goodness of God. They blindly refused to

acknowledge that God wanted to bless them, love them, care for them and be their God. So the law

was given unto them, but only for a certain period. God already had a master plan to restore mankind

back into unbroken fellowship with Himself and He knew that the Old Law Covenant would only be in

power until the Seed should come. This Seed, of course, was Jesus Christ.

For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now

with whom was He [God] angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in

the wilderness? And to whom did He [God] swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those

who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. (Heb 3:16-19

NKJV, annotations added)

Note in the previous verses it talks about “those who sinned” and “they could not enter because of unbelief”

(still talking about the same people, namely Israel).

Israel should never have agreed to living under the law! God would have accepted and loved them regardless

of how holy (or unholy) they lived, because they were Abraham’s descendants and we just read about God’s

amazing covenant with Abraham. God declared Abraham to be righteous simply because he believed God:

And he [Abraham] believed in the LORD, and He [the Lord] accounted it to him for righteousness.

(Gen 15:6 NKJV, annotations added)

But instead, Israel in their pride said:

"All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient." (Exo 24:7b ESV)

Cursed is he who does not rise to all the Words of this Law, to do them! And all the people shall say,

Amen! (Deut 27:26 LITV)

They agreed to something they would never be able to do! This must rank right up there with the Garden of

Eden in the list of all time dumb things said or done. Even God said about them:

And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! (Ex 32:9

NKJV)

God never originally meant for us to try to relate to Him in this way. Just after God’s commands were

written on stone and He set the choice of curse (for disobedience) or blessing (for obedience) before Israel,

He said the following to Moses:

And the LORD said to Moses: “Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and

play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go to be among them, and

they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. (Deut 31:16 NKJV)

Does this look like God’s best plan for mankind? If even God Himself said that He knew Israel would break

the Old Covenant Law, does it really seem logical that He would still want people to base their relationship

with Him on the basis of how well they are able to obey a set of rules?

The Characteristics of a Covenant

One of the characteristics of a covenant is that it cannot be withdrawn from by either of the parties that

made it, since a covenant is a life-long contract or agreement. For a covenant to end, either one of the

parties that entered into it literally has to die. Since Israel was never able to fully keep up their side of the

covenant and remain 100% obedient to all its stipulations, they were in breach of its requirements which

meant that God had to keep up His side of the covenant and punish them for their disobedience.

All the horrible curses that would strike Israel for disobedience can be found in Deuteronomy 28:15-68. If

God hadn’t punished them for their sins, He would have been in breach of His side of the covenant,

thereby making Him a liar and of course we know that God can not lie.

There was also another problem: Since God has an indestructible life, He could not bring an end to this

covenant by dying Himself. He therefore had His Spirit conceive a child through a human woman and the

man Jesus Christ was born into this world. Jesus Christ lived a 100% perfectly obedient life, thereby fulfilling

all the requirements of the Old Covenant Law, which brings us to the third Covenant:

Third Covenant

This is the most amazing New Covenant under which we now live! This covenant was cut within the Trinity

with no human influence or intervention, but purely out of God’s heart of love towards us.

God took away the laws He gave to Moses, canceling the written code that stood opposed to us:

…having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us.

And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (Col 2:14 NKJV)

He made Jew, Greek and Gentile equal - God’s church has now become spiritual Israel.

For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he

is a Jew who is one inwardly… (Rom 2:28-29a NKJV)

God’s relationship with Israel before the introduction of the Old Covenant was a type and shadow of what He

wants to have with the whole world today.

…that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to

them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (2 Cor 5:19 NKJV, emphasis added)

It is required that when making a covenant it has to be sealed with blood. God had also confirmed His

covenant with Abraham with blood (Genesis 15:9-18) and had Israel do the same:

Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every

precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water,

scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, “This is

the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.” Then likewise he sprinkled with blood

both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And according to the law almost all

things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission (Heb 9:18-

22).

In the Old Covenant Israel slaughtered animals to appease the wrath of God. In essence they were only

postponing the punishment for their sins for another year, because the blood of animals could never

fully serve as payment for the sins of mankind:

For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. (Heb 10:4 NKJV)

So God sent His only Son, allowed Him to be crucified by the very people He came to save and accepted

His blood as the full, perfect and complete payment for all the past, present and future sins of all mankind.

The Father then entered into a New Covenant with His Son Jesus, stipulating that the righteousness and

all the blessings that Jesus had earned through His perfect obedience were to be given as a free gift to

mankind on one condition: They had to believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Every person

that accepted Jesus’ sacrifice as a full and complete payment for their sins would be imputed with the perfect

righteousness of God Himself:

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the

garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness. (Isa 61:10a NKJV)

God would also wipe out their sinfulness through the perfect offering of the cross, imparting His perfection

unto all who believe in Him:

For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. (Heb 10:14 KJV)

Many people call this the “divine exchange” - our sinfulness was laid on Jesus and His righteousness

was given to us as a free gift. Actually He was MADE to BE sin. Righteousness therefore wasn’t just given

to us: we BECAME righteousness!

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in

Him. (2 Cor 5:21 NKJV)

In fact the Bible is so full of references to the reality that the Old Covenant has passed away and that it has

been replaced by the New Covenant, that it is very hard to miss it! The following verses clearly tell us that

the Old Covenant (referring to the Law of Moses), which was only a type and a shadow of the New Covenant,

has passed away: Kindly read Hebrew 8:7-13.

Beneficiaries of Two Covenants!

Now, when a person becomes born again through simply putting their faith in Jesus, they are grafted into

“spiritual Israel” and God plants His own Seed inside them:

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized

into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free,

there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then

you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal 3:26-29 NKJV)

Here is verse 29 again, read it slowly:

And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

We not only become partakers of the New Covenant, inheriting all its wonderful benefits, but through our

faith in Jesus we also become heirs of the promises that God made to Abraham! Talk about a double

portion, shabba! Here are some more verses:

…just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Therefore know

that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would

justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the

nations shall be blessed.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. (Gal

3:6-9 NKJV)

You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to

Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. (Acts 3:25 NKJV)

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written,

“Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon

the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Gal

3:13-14)

God will never again refrain from doing good to us and even when He chastens us (Hebrews 12) it is an

affectionate reproach from His heart of love.

Old Testament Prophesies

Some of the Old Testament prophets were given visions of the New Covenant and they painted an

amazingly clear picture of the unconditional love of God towards His children; of a God that has chosen to

blot out their sins and relate to them on the basis of the perfect obedience of His Son, Jesus Christ:

And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I

will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. (Jer 32:40 NKJV)

And I will establish my covenant with you. Then you shall know that I am the LORD …when I provide

you an atonement for all you have done,” says the Lord GOD’”. (Eze 16:62-63b NKJV)

The blood of Jesus was the atonement:

For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins (Matt 26:28).

Probably the most well- known prophesy that an Old Testament prophet made about the coming New

Covenant is found in Isaiah 54:

“For a mere moment I have forsaken you [when people were still under the law], But with great

mercies I will gather you. With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment [God had to serve

punishment for man’s disobedience to the Old Law Covenant]; But with everlasting kindness I will have

mercy on you,” Says the LORD, your Redeemer. [W hat part of “everlasting kindness” is so hard to

understand?] “For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no

longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you [There goes a

whole heap of “angry God” theories and doctrines right out the door]. For the mountains shall depart and the

hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be

removed,” says the LORD, who has mercy on you. (Isaiah 54:7-10)

Under which covenant will we choose to live?

Lesson 3: The Purpose of the New Covenant

The main purpose of the New Covenant was for God to change the way He related to mankind, namely

through grace, resulting in an spontaneous change in behavior due to mankind receiving revelation about

God’s vast and infinite love for them.

Under the Old Covenant God dealt with people on the basis of their external behavior, namely their level of

obedience to the law. Under this system God left people to their own devices and judged them according

to their works. People were punished and cursed when they broke the law. But then came the New

Covenant and God dealt with the internal problem, namely people’s fallen sinful nature. Those who put their

faith in Him were changed from the inside; God bestowing them with the very nature of his Son, Jesus

Christ. He also credited the perfect obedience of Jesus to their account.

The believer’s old sinful nature has been crucified with Christ and their spirit made 100% righteous:

…knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away

with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. (Rom

6:6-7 NKJV)

This is the way He now sees believers: blameless and fully righteous in His sight:

And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He

has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and

above reproach in His sight. (Col 1:21-22 NKJV)

Before we were born again, we were enemies of God and we were alienated from Him in two ways:

1) W e had a sinful nature inside us and we were slaves to this sinful nature, running after every evil thing

that gratified its desires:

…among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of

the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. (Eph 2:3 NKJV)

2) W e were also under the law, which utterly condemned us and showed us how sinful we were:

Now we know that whatever the 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. Therefore by the deeds of the

law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (Rom 3:19-20)

But Romans 6:6-7 (above) says that we have now become dead to sin. W e’ve become the friends of God

and we were also united with Him in two ways:

1) Our sinful nature was crucified with Christ and our spirit made alive towards God; in other words: we

were born again. The perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ was imputed to us and all the

benefits and blessings of His obedience have been credited to us because of our faith in Him:

Therefore as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the

righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life (Rom 5:18 KJV).

2) The law has been nullified, nailed to the cross with Jesus:

…having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us.

And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (Col 2:14 NKJV)

God now relates to believers on the basis of the obedience of Jesus Christ. God does not attribute

their sins to them, but instead delights in them with the love and passion of a proud Father.

But how can all of this be true when none of us could ever deserve to be given a gift like this? That’s

exactly it: Nobody deserves grace. It is a free gift from God, given to those who believe in Him. If we were

ever able to earn it, it wouldn’t be called a “gift” anymore, would it?

For by grace you have been saved through faith…….it is the gift of God (Eph 2:8)

Lesson 4: Did Jesus End the Law or Not?

Many people who still believe they have to live according to the Old Covenant Laws have thrown

Matthew 5:17-18 at preachers of the grace message to try and prove their case. But what does the Bible

really say about living under the law and whether we are still bound to it?

“Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.

For assuredly, I say to you, till Heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means

pass from the law till all is fulfilled. (Matt 5:17-18 NKJV)

Peter Ditzel from W ord of His Grace explains these two verses as follows:

“Jesus is giving us two either / or conditions here: The law cannot pass until heaven and earth pass OR

the law cannot pass until all is fulfilled. One or the other can do it. Heaven and earth have not yet passed,

so we will leave that aside. But what did Jesus mean by ALL being fulfilled? He was referring to what He

had just said in the previous sentence: the fulfilling or completing of the law AND the prophets. Once He

had fulfilled the law and the prophets, the law could pass.

Legal Requirements of the Law

When a person is under a contractual obligation to someone else and they fulfill all the requirements of

that contract, it means the contract is finished and over. But if they simply destroyed the contractual

agreement before fulfilling its requirements, they are not released from its obligations, which is why Jesus

said that He did not come to destroy the law. But the moment the obligations of the contract are fulfilled, that

person is set free from it! In exactly the same way Jesus did not come to destroy the law, but He fulfilled it.

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (Rom 10:4 NKJV)

Because all the righteous requirements of the law were fulfilled in Christ and since we are given

the righteousness of Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit as a free gift when we put our faith in Jesus, it

means that in Christ we too have fulfilled the requirements of the law and therefore the law has ended for us

as well.

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in

the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the

law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Rom 8:3-4 NKJV,

emphasis added)

If someone’s mind has not been renewed to think in terms of grace, they might stare themselves

blind against the last part of verse 4, thinking that we have to walk after the Spirit if we want to fulfill the

righteous requirements of the law. But look down in verse 9:

But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone

does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. (Rom 8:9 NKJV)

This says that that if the Holy Spirit dwells in us, we are not in the flesh! So what these verses are

actually saying is that if someone has the Holy Spirit inside them, it is proof that the requirements of the

law have been met in them.

The Prophets

For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. (Matt 11:13 NKJV)

The entire law and the Old Testament Prophets spoke of the coming of the Messiah who would forgive

the sins of the whole world. The law was our tutor (schoolmaster), teaching us “right living” until we should

put our faith in Jesus and begin to live by faith.

But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward

be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by

faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. (Gal 3:23-25 NKJV)

This says that after we’ve put our faith in Jesus Christ, we don’t need the tutor of the law to instruct

us anymore. The Holy Spirit inside us can do the job pretty well on His own - He doesn’t need the

assistance of an external set of rules!

“The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached,

and everyone is pressing into it”. (Luke 16:16)

This verse implies that if we still preach law-based living we are not preaching the Kingdom, because

we would be preaching things that ended with John the Baptist over 2000 years ago - read the verse again.

How much clearer can it get?

Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many,

but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. (Gal 3:16 NKJV, emphasis added)

And also:

What then is the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the seed should

come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

(Gal 3:19 NKJV, emphasis added)

These verses say that the law was given because of transgressions until the Seed should come

(and Hebrews 3 tells us it was specifically the sin of unbelief). Then when the Seed (Christ) came, the

law was fulfilled and we were freed from its legal requirements.

But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the

Prophets. (Rom 3:21 NKJV, emphasis added)

If there were such a thing as the “court of heaven”, the law and prophets would have stood up as

witnesses, pointed their fingers to those who put their faith in Jesus and said: “That person is righteous!”

Also note the verse says that this righteousness comes apart from the law.

From these verses and many more it is plain to see that believers are not supposed to try and live under the

law anymore, but instead live by faith in Jesus Christ.

Living in Sin

Here is a shocker, something that should silence the mouths of those who still try to be justified by obeying

the law. Let’s look at two verses first:

And the law is not of faith… (Gal 3:12a NKJV)

and

…for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. (Rom 14:23b NKJV)

It’s quite surprising to see what it says when we combine these two verses. Since the law is not of faith

Galatians 3:12) and since anything that is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23), it means that those who try to

be justified by their own good works and try to live up to the moral code of the law are actually living in sin!

Righteousness which Exceeds that of the Pharisees

Jesus also said the following:

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. (Matt 5:20 NKJV)

The scribes and Pharisees prided themselves in how well they kept the laws of Moses; in fact it’s what

they did for a living! These laws didn’t just include the 10 Commandments, but also all the rituals and

daily sacrifices and a total of 613 stipulations and commandments that were contained in the five books of

Moses (Genesis to Deuteronomy)².

In fact most people who try to live up to the Law of Moses today would pale in comparison against an

average Pharisee. It is therefore simple to see that the righteousness which Jesus was talking about was not

about believers trying to live more obedient or more holy; He was talking about a righteousness that comes

from God, given to every believer as a free gift at the point of salvation. At the exact same moment that

a believer puts their faith in Jesus, they are given His perfect righteousness and He is given their sin

and transgressions:

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in

Him. (2 Cor 5:21 NKJV)

Lesson 5: The Law Arouses Sin

If a married man were to go on a business trip to a different country and one night after work, while he

was sitting in a pub sipping a drink, he was approached by a very attractive woman with “cruel intentions”,

what would be this man’s motive for staying true to his wife? The ring on his finger? The piece of paper

that he signed on his wedding day? No! These external things will never keep a person from committing

adultery. The strongest motivation for the husband to remain true to his wife would be if he loved her.

It is exactly the same with Christians and holy living. The fact that a Christian ought to love their

neighbor simply because the Bible says so is not enough motivation for them to actually do it. In fact

most people perform rather poorly at things they ought to do, and much better at things they want to do.

It is a fact that when we tell somebody they are not allowed to do something, we are actually arousing a

desire inside them that wants to do that very thing! This is exactly what the law does. People would not

have known what sin was if it were not for the law, because the law says “don’t do this” or “don’t touch that”:

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known

sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You

shall not covet.” But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil

desire. (Rom 7:7-8)

Salvation = Moral Living?

One of the predominant doctrines doing the rounds in the church today regarding moral living, is that if

a person is not performing very well morally we should probably question if they were really saved in the

first place, or whether God can use them at all.

However it’s really not our prerogative to stand in front of one of God’s children (who may just be going

through a rough time), point our finger and say “I don’t think they are really saved”. Chances are good that

such a brother or sister might be sitting under the teaching of a person or ministry that is still preaching holy

living and moral behavior modification at the cost of being unconditionally accepted and loved by God and

this might be causing them to struggle with some bad habit or pattern of immorality. The Bible actually tells

us to restore such a person with gentleness:

Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of

gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. (Gal 6:1 NKJV)

However when someone who claims to be saved, carries on in the same destructive lifestyle patterns

for years and years and simply pops into church when it’s convenient for a religious little Sunday morning

“fix”, with their lives void of any passion for God, it might be a good idea to talk to them about whether they

were really saved in the first place.

But back to the point, a definite indication of legalism is when upholding some moral standard or code

is considered to be more important than the person struggling with upholding it. In some circles where

people call themselves Christians, people are actually thrown out from their midst if they commit a certain

type of mistake.

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness,

lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions,

dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries… (Gal 5:19-21a)

From this verse it is interesting to see that the Bible lists drinking too much beer or wine up there

with murder. Although we shouldn’t condone this kind of behavior, we are not to pass judgment on

anybody either, because we do not always understand their circumstances.

Contrary to popular belief however, telling people that they don’t have to obey the laws of Moses anymore

actually helps them to have victory over sin, because it lifts the burden of external behavior modification off

them. At salvation God gives us a 100% righteous born again spirit man on the inside that wants to live for

God, wants to love other people and wants to do good.

Any true believer will admit that if they had the choice to push a button that would allow them to never

sin again, they would push that button in an instant.

This is proof that the laws of God have now been written on our hearts and that we don’t need the external

written code (the law) to direct us anymore:

…I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts [this means God gave us the desire to

please Him and have fellowship with Him]; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

(Heb 8:10b)

The laws referred to in this verse are not the 10 Commandments either, since we are living under a new and

better covenant and not under the Old Covenant anymore.

Before we came to faith in Christ, the law was our schoolmaster that taught us “holy living” and was only

a type and a shadow of the real thing, namely faith in Christ. The law, like a signpost, was only supposed

to point us to the real thing - we were never supposed to set up camp next to the signpost!

Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith

has come, we are no longer under a tutor. (Gal 3:24-25 NKJV)

The Bible calls the law (that was written on tablets of stone) the “ministry of death”:

But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel

could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory

was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? (2 Cor 3:7-8 NKJV,

emphasis added).

If we now tell people that they should live up to the demands of this Old Covenant System, it means that we

are actually putting death on them.

To conclude, if people think that we are saying they can just go out and live in full blown

depravity, licentiousness and immorality, simply running like animals after the desires of their flesh,

then they are wrong. If God has removed our old sinful nature with its lustful desires, why should we live in it

any longer?

…knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with,

that we should no longer be slaves of sin. (Rom 6:6 NKJV)

Just as we once followed like slaves after the lusts of our old sinful nature, we now have the desire and

privilege to follow the desires of our new 100% righteous reborn spirit:

I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your

members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now

present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. (Rom 6:19)

Lesson 6: The True Test of the Gospel we Preach

Each person’s belief in the gospel is influenced and shaped by their exposure to it and by the extent to which

their mind has been renewed, but unfortunately also by the earthly traditions they still hold on to.

…making the Word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have delivered (Mark 7:13).

Paul the apostle, who wrote most of the New Testament, preached a gospel that was revealed to him directly

from God.

And, brothers, I make known to you the gospel which was preached by me, that it is not according

to man. For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it except by a revelation of Jesus Christ.

(Gal 1:11-12)

This gospel is known as the Gospel of Grace:

But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my

race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the

grace of God. (Acts 20:24)

I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a

different gospel. (Gal 1:6)

…just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in

my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of

grace. (Phil 1:7)

Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to

the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. (Acts 14:3)

So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up

and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (Acts 20:32 NKJV, emphasis added)

There is a flood of grace hitting our planet at the moment, with millions and millions of people waking up

to the truth that we are not justified by observing the law or living up to some moral standard anymore,

but simply by believing in Jesus Christ.

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the works of the law. (Rom 3:28 NKJV)

Just like Paul the apostle prophesied in Galatians 4 however, those who believe in this gospel of grace will

be persecuted by those who want to be justified by their own works:

But then even as he born according to flesh [Ishmael was the son born out of the flesh, which

represents the works of the law] persecuted him born according to the Spirit [Isaac was the

son born out of the promise, which represents grace], so it is also now. (Gal 4:29)

And here is the true test of the gospel of grace: If the gospel we are preaching does not put us in danger

of being misunderstood by the legalists, in the sense that they might think we are saying that people can just

go out and sin as much as they want, then we are not preaching grace to the extent that Paul was preaching

it.

True grace lifts the law off believers so completely that according to the legalists it sets us free in more

ways than it should. Legalists believe that the moment you lift the law off a believer, he or she will simply

run out and begin to live in full blown depravity and fall into all kinds of wickedness. But they forget that

we have a born again spirit on the inside of us that does not want to live like that!

Paul had to defend the gospel of grace in the same way. W e can see from the “question and answer”

manner that much of the book of Romans was written in, that he was countering many of the arguments

which the religious crowd of the day was throwing at him. They were probably accusing him of

preaching that the believers, because they weren’t under the law anymore, could go out and sin as much

as they wanted! Here was Paul’s reply:

Why not say, then, "Let us do evil so that good may come"? Some people, indeed, have insulted me

by accusing me of saying this very thing! They will be condemned, as they should be. (Rom 3:8)

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we

who died to sin live any longer in it? (Rom 6:1-2)

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under Law, but under grace? Certainly not! (Rom

6:15)

As for you, my friends, you were called to be free. But do not let this freedom become an excuse for

letting your physical desires control you. Instead, let love make you serve one another.

(Gal

5:13)

Therefore if Paul, the champion apostle of the New Testament, had to defend the gospel of grace

against these accusations and was persecuted by the legalists for preaching this gospel, then we

should be considering that perhaps something is wrong if our gospel is not making the legalists of our

day rise up against us. This is not to say that we should purposely set out to provoke people, but if nobody

ever opposes or questions us, it is a sure sign that our beliefs are most likely not in line with the truth of the

New Covenant.

Lesson 7: Forgive To Be Forgiven?

Many of the writings in the Bible before the cross portray God to be a harsh, cruel being, set on destroying

and punishing people if they dared to disobey the set of moral standards represented by the 10

Commandments and the other laws.

On the contrary, after the cross we see Paul and the other apostles preach a message of unconditional

love, grace and mercy to all who place their faith in Christ. In fact, the way that God relates to believers

under the New Covenant is so vastly different from the way He treated Israel under the law (remember this

was a result of their own doing), that it can’t be even remotely compared. The rules of the race have

changed, and trying to run according to the old rules while competing in a new race will only cause

confusion, condemnation and fear. We’ll look at one of these changed rules, namely how God has

changed the way He forgives people and what that implies for us.

Without a proper understanding of the context of His words, some of Jesus’ statements (before the cross)

may seem contrary to what Paul the apostle preached (after the cross).

Jesus said the following:

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. (Matt 6:12)

And in another place:

“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father

in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father

in heaven forgive your trespasses”. (Mark 11:25-26 NKJV)

This implies that God’s willingness and ability to forgive us is directly related to our ability to forgive

others, which means that if we refuse to forgive others, God won’t forgive us either. And of course we

know that nobody can go to heaven without having their sins forgiven... Take a moment and think about this

scenario: It entails that if there is even a single bit of unforgiveness in our hearts, even if it’s

unintentional, it can condemn us to hell.

On the contrary, Paul made the following statements:

And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

(Eph 4:32)

…bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another;

even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. (Col 3:13 NKJV, emphasis added)

The apostle John also added his voice to this chorus, saying:

I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake. (1 John 2:1)

The Rules Have Changed

Before the cross (even when Jesus walked the earth), the house of Israel lived under a different set of

rules than what we now have. This was called the Old Covenant and it mainly stated that God’s

faithfulness and His blessings were dependent on Israel’s ability to obey all the rules. If they failed (to

forgive, to obey, to sacrifice, etc.) they would not be forgiven either and be punished for their

transgressions. Jesus also lived under this covenant, which in essence consisted of the laws that were given

to Moses and the Israelites.

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the

law. (Gal 4:4 NKJV, emphasis added)

Jesus knew He still had to follow this old set of rules so that He could later offer Himself as the perfect

sacrifice for all transgressions and free mankind from the demands of the old rules:

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (Rom 10:4)

But while He was alive (before the cross) He still had to obey the old rules.

Our Sins Did Not Survive the Cross

Under the New Covenant God considers those who believe in Him as spotless and blameless in His

sight. The writer of Hebrews wrote about how believers would not need the external rules of the law

anymore, but would know God’s desires in their hearts, having been forgiven all their sins:

“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws

into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless

deeds I will remember no more”. (Heb 10:16-17 NKJV)

And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive

together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses. (Col 2:13 NKJV, emphasis added)

In the dictionary the word “all” pretty much means what it says: ALL. God has forgiven us all our trespasses,

which means all past, present and future sins. Now most preachers don’t have a problem with our past and

even our present sins being forgiven, but they have a big problem with someone saying that all our

future sins have been forgiven as well, because this implies we’ve been given a license to sin. However if

the Holy Spirit lives inside a person, such a person will not want to indulge in the works of the flesh but

strive to live a life worthy of the calling they’ve been given!

Should We Still Forgive Others Then?

Under the New Covenant we don’t need to forgive others in order to receive our own forgiveness

anymore, as we’ve just seen. This however does not make it right to walk in unforgiveness. In the ancient

times of the Romans, when a person was murdered, the dead body would literally be tied to the

murderer’s back with ropes and left to rot. The decomposing flesh would then begin infecting and

poisoning the flesh of the living person and the murderer would die a horrible death within a few days.

When we carry around offence in our hearts, it does not affect to a great degree the person who

has offended us. It does however eat away at us like a cancer, and that’s why we need to forgive: It’s for our

own good.

Our last example shows that God took it even a step further: The only difference between a believer and

a non-believer is that the believer has placed his faith in God’s forgiveness, in other words he’s chosen

to accept God’s free gift of grace. The unbeliever also stands forgiven, but he has not accepted it yet. We

have to accept a gift before it becomes our own.

...that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them,

and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (2 Cor. 5:19)

There are two distinct groups in this verse, namely

“them” and

“us”. God through His Son has

already reconciled the world (“them”) to Himself, which means He’s already done everything from His

side that mankind will ever need to be saved. All that’s left is for believers (“us”) to get the good news out to

“them” so that when they hear it, they will believe it, accept God’s forgiveness and be saved.

There is no limit that can be placed on the completeness of God’s forgiveness. Each and every dark

secret, from the smallest right up to the most hideous act of violence or depravity has already been

covered by Jesus’ blood. Let’s start acting as though we believe we’ve been forgiven!

Lesson 8: Spirit, Soul and Body

One of the biggest problems that Christians have in understanding how we can be completely

righteous (because we don’t always “feel” righteous), is related to the principle of spirit, soul and body. The

Bible clearly says we have all three:

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body

be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thes 5:23 NKJV)

We are a spirit, we have a soul, and we live in a body. This is very contrary to the worldly belief that we only

have a body and mind (remember that mind = soul). Let’s briefly look at each one.

The Spirit

When we are born again, our spirit becomes alive to God. Previously our spirit was in a dormant, dead state

towards God, but alive to sin (we were in sin):

…even when we were dead in trespasses, [He] made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have

been saved). (Eph 2: 5 NKJV, annotations added)

But then when we put our faith in Jesus, this old sinful nature was crucified (and buried) with Christ. The

Bible calls this sinful nature the “old man”:

…knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with,

that we should no longer be slaves of sin. (Rom 6:6 NKJV, emphasis added)

For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Col 3:3 NKJV)

This last verse says “you” died and through the process of elimination we should easily be able to figure out

which part of us it’s talking about. Ask yourself:

“Did my body die?” The answer of course is “No”

because you are still very much alive, reading this book. “Did my soul die?” Again the answer is “No”

because at this very moment you are processing the thoughts of what you are reading in this book with

your mind, also called your “soul” or “intellect”. So since neither the body nor the soul has died, this of

course only leaves us with the spirit - this verse is talking about the old sinful spirit man.

The moment we become born again, our spirit becomes alive to God:

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him 9 knowing that Christ,

having been raised from the dead, dies no more. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for

all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead

indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 6:8-11)

In verse 11 the word “reckon” actually means “to consider”. Compare this paraphrased version of verses 9 to

11 with the verses above:

Verse 9: W e know that Christ was raised from the dead and that He cannot die again. Verse 10: He died

once on behalf of the whole of mankind, but now He is eternally alive to God. Verse 11: In the same manner

as Christ, consider yourself also to be dead to sin, because just like Christ you are dead to sin! And just

like Christ is now alive to God, consider yourself also to be alive to God!

And here is the most amazing part: At the moment of salvation our born again spirit is created just

as righteous as Jesus, perfectly holy and glorious and has the very nature of Jesus Christ Himself! The

Father made Jesus to be sin in our place so we could receive His righteousness as a free gift!

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in

Him. (2 Cor 5:21 NKJV)

Our born again spirit is sometimes also called the “new man” or “inward man”. The last part of Ephesians

4 talks about our behavior towards other people and verse 24 says that just as our inner man has already

been created according to the very image of Jesus, we should now also let our actions reflect this change

that has occurred inside us:

…and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and

holiness. (Eph 4:24 NKJV, emphasis added)

And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.

(Col 3:10 NKJV, emphasis added)

This born again spirit man inside us can never change; it is made righteous forever! It is actually “fused”

together with the Holy Spirit Himself!

But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. (1 Cor 6:17 NKJV)

This means that if we were ever able to corrupt our spirit, we would also be able to corrupt the Holy

Spirit because we have been joined to Him and they are one Spirit. And of course we know this can never

happen. It is a one way stream: The Holy Spirit (or our born again Spirit) can never be manipulated

negatively, it can only emanate goodness. This goodness can however be choked-up, which is called

“quenching” the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19).

The Soul

This is the realm of the psyche and includes the mind, will, intellect, personality and emotions. This part

does not instantly change when we are born again. Yes we’ve now made a choice for Christ to follow

Him and serve Him, but this part of us still has the old thought patterns and habits of our BC (before

Christ) days. These habits may have been formed out of mere self-preservation instincts, or by us yielding

our members to the lustful desires of our old sinful nature.

Even though we don’t want to sin anymore, we still find that our behavior does not always line up with what

we want to do. This is what Paul talks about in Romans 7:

For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I

hate, that I do. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members,

warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my

members. (Rom 7:15, 20, 22-23)

Our soul / mind is the part of us that we spend the rest of our life renewing. W e need to train our mind

to agree with what already happened in our spirit. How do we do this? W ell, truth doesn’t just

automatically jump out at us while we sit and do nothing. Jesus said that “the truth will set you free”, but it is

only the truth that we know that will set us free. By devoting quality time to God, studying the word, praying,

spending time with fellow believers, etc. we get to behold the beauty of our Father and have our minds

washed with truth.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may

prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Rom 12:2 NKJV)

A desire for intimacy will prompt us into wanting to do these things. The Spirit of God inside us cries out

to the Father, deep calling to deep, wanting to romance and woo us. The above list of things to do is

not a recipe or a list of “have to’s”. The need to study the word, pray, etc. will manifest itself as a desire in

us, the mighty Holy Spirit expressing His desire to lead us into all truth (John 16:13).

This is also why we are told to set our minds on the things above (Colossians 3:2), because the more we

think God’s thoughts, the faster our minds will be transformed. As our old sinful thought patterns begin

to starve, the mind will come more and more into agreement with our born again spirit.

The Body

When Jesus died, He redeemed us through His blood. At that moment the believer’s spirit becomes alive

towards God and their body a temple of the Holy Spirit.

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have

from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your

body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Cor 6:19-20)

Our body will follow either the spirit or the mind, depending which one we give control to. If we give our

mind control (and our mind has not yet been renewed), we are walking according the flesh and the fruit of

this is death - death in the form of us reaping the results of our ungodly actions.

What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in

death! (Rom 6:21 NKJV)

Note that even though we might sometimes reap earthly consequences for our actions, God will never punish

us for our mistakes since all mankind’s sin was punished in the body of Christ.

But now, since we have been made alive in the spirit (born again), let us walk according to the spirit! If

our old sinful nature has been crucified with Christ, why would we still want to live according to it? As our

mind becomes more and more renewed, our body and mind / soul will also walk more and more in line

with what has already happened in our spirit, becoming more committed to the righteous purposes of God.

Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing

wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. (Rom 6:19)

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against

the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not

do the things that you wish. (Gal 5:16-17)

Remember that a believer is a spirit; they have a soul and live in a body. Their spirit is completely

righteous and holy and since the believer is a spirit, the actual person has been made the righteousness

of God! It’s now simply a matter of getting our mind and body to line up with this truth.

Lesson 9: Righteousness through the Law, Pt 1.

As more and more Christians realize there is a revolution in the earth for the church to be released from the

captivity of legalism and law, the people that are still preaching the law are also becoming more

ferocious than ever!

Churches are “warning” their people against being “deceived” by grace preachers, cautioning them that

grace can’t be preached alone, but should be understood in the context of the whole Bible. They preach that

grace by itself can apparently lead to a false understanding of what God had intended with the cross; the

right thing to do would be to mix a healthy dose of law in there as well to “balance” the message.

It is these preachers of law that love to quote scriptures from the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

out of context, forgetting that the crowds who Jesus was preaching to were Jews! These Jews had been

polluted with hundreds of years of preaching of the Old Testament Law, hearing day after day that it is

their obedience to the law will cause them to become righteous and that their level of morality and

good performance will earn them God’s acceptance and blessings.

God never originally meant for us to try to relate to Him in this way! Just after God’s commands were written

on stone and He set the choice of curse (for disobedience) or blessing (for obedience) before Israel, He

said this to Moses:

And the LORD said to Moses: “Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and

play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go to be among them, and

they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. (Deut 31:16)

God knew that Israel would not be able to keep His laws and commands, but because Israel refused to have

a personal relationship with God (always asking Moses to speak to God on their behalf) and despite all

the many miracles God did when leading them out of Egypt (showing great patience with Israel despite all

their continuous murmuring and complaining in the desert), they persisted in their unbelief in God, not

trusting that He could and would lead them to the Promised Land. They were self- righteous and “stiff

nicked” as God called them:

Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on

the way, for you are a stiff-necked people. (Ex 33:3)

Moses also said to them, as they were about to cross the Jordan River:

Therefore understand that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of

your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. (Deut 6:9)

Now imagine centuries of “stiff necked-ness” later and we would have an idea of the crowd that Jesus was

preaching into.

Another interesting fact is that God had never appointed any Pharisees, Sadducees or Scribes anywhere in

the Bible, but only priests to minister in the temple. The Babylonian Empire of king Nebuchadnezzar

overthrew the Jewish kingdom in the year 586 BC and had thousands of Israelites exiled to Babylon.

After the overthrow of Babylonia by the Persian Empire, the Persian ruler (Cyrus the Great) gave Jews

permission to return to their homeland in 538 BC and to rebuild their temple.

The parties of the Pharisees and their opponents, the Sadducees, were two of the earliest sects to emerge

in the Second Temple Period. In general, whereas the Sadducees were conservative, aristocratic

monarchists, the Pharisees were eclectic, popular and more democratic. These sects also forsook many of

God’s laws and replaced them with manmade rules and codes, which resulted in what is traditionally

known today as Judaism. Jesus rebuked them time and again for replacing God’s commandments with

manmade traditions. Look for example how they tried to corner Jesus, saying his disciples transgressed the

tradition of the elders. Read Matthew 15:1-9 please.

The Jews had over the centuries reduced the perfect law of God to a standard that could be “kept”, but

Jesus wanted to show them that everybody falls short. Even if some claimed they had kept the law their

whole life, Jesus pointed out they still lacked in some other area. He wanted people to see that only by

putting our faith in a Savior (Him), could we ever be restored unto God and by faith obtain grace, mercy and

justification. Paul later received this revelation from God and wrote the following:

But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the

Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.

For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God [no matter how well

they may think they have been keeping the laws], being justified freely by His grace through the

redemption that is in Christ Jesus. (Rom 3:21-24)

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. (Rom 3:28)

Verse 23 in the above passage is a favorite with preachers of the law, but they never read it in

conjunction with the very next verse, which says that even though everybody on the planet has sinned and

fallen short of God’s glory, they are justified freely by their faith in Christ. We’ll look at this verse again in the

next chapter.

The Context of Jesus’ Words

If we read Jesus’ teachings through this perspective (namely that He was trying to show people they

could never measure up to the standard of the law in their own efforts) we can see why He always got so

angry at the Pharisees who thought that God would accept them by their “holy” living and why He also

showed such mercy and love to those who simply believed in Him and knew they couldn’t make it without

Him.

The law will always point out our mistakes, make us feel guilty and show us that we haven’t done

enough. When the rich young ruler boasted in his own morality, claiming he had kept all the laws since

he was a young boy, Jesus showed him that he still fell short: he valued money more than heavenly

treasures. Read Luke 18:18-23.

But now the modern day “law preachers” will take this scripture and tell God’s precious children (who

have been freed from the law) that it is wrong for Christians to have lots of money and that you can’t go to

heaven if you are rich.

W e live under a New Covenant and the law (with all its demands) has been crucified with Christ:

And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive

together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting

of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the

way, having nailed it to the cross. (Col 2:13-14)

Remember the 10 Commandments which were engraved on stones tablets?

But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones… (2 Cor 3:7a)

The 10 Commandments is called the ministry of death!

…but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not

of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Cor 3:5b NKJV)

This says the letter (the law) kills!

Therefore let us continue to contend for the freedom which we have been called into: the glorious liberty

of the New Covenant! Let us beware of the modern day Pharisees who with their form of godliness (void

of power) try to snare us into being performance driven, legalistic and continuously under pressure to try

and live up to some expired standard.

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again

with a yoke of bondage. (Gal 5:1 NKJV)

Lesson 10: Righteousness Through the Law, Pt 2.

It’s quite amazing how some modern day preachers want to put on God’s children the laws and regulations of

the Old Covenant which they themselves cannot fulfill, nor the Israelites (Jews) could manage to live by

for hundreds of years. W hen certain Jews came to Antioch, the apostle Peter withdrew himself and did not

eat with the Gentile believers as this was considered a sin by those who still lived according to the law. But

Paul rebuked him and the other Jews who joined him in his hypocrisy:

But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter

before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you

compel Gentiles to live as Jews? (Gal 2:14 NKJV)

A similar thing happened in the churches of Galatia. The Galatian Christians didn’t renounce Jesus as being

their Messiah, but legalistic Jews had convinced them that they couldn’t be right with God by only believing

in what Jesus had done. They were being told they also had to keep the Old Testament Law in order for God

to accept them. The same lie is being propagated today and church congregations are being manipulated

to perform according to manmade standards, else the Lord won’t accept them, answer their prayers or

bless them. Lots of people love to quote the Old Covenant scripture Leviticus 11: 44-45 out of context,

where God tells Israel: “Be Holy, for I am holy”. It’s logical that living a holy lifestyle is not a bad thing, but

when we do this in order to gain God’s approval, it is not the gospel.

Man-made Laws

In Paul’s day, the issue was circumcision. The legalistic believers still held fast that people had to be

circumcised in accordance with the Law of Moses in order to be accepted by God. Today the same

legalistic message is being preached using different tactics. Nowadays people are made to feel guilty by

using things like prayer, Bible study, church attendance and other actions of “right living” as necessary

requirements for God to love and accept them. Instead people should actually be told over and over again

that their faith in what Christ did for them is more than enough!

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. (Rom 3:28)

It is not a combination of what Jesus did for us plus our own actions of holiness: Jesus plus anything equals

nothing. Jesus plus nothing equals everything.

No one argues that we shouldn’t pray, study the Word, go to church, etc, but any time it is argued

that God is angry with us if we fail to do these things, it’s not the true gospel. That type of teaching

puts the burden of salvation on us and opens us to condemnation and attacks from the devil. This is

what Paul called a perversion of the gospel:

I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a

different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert

the gospel of Christ. (Gal 1: 6-7 NKJV)

Not Even a Little Bit of Law!

A person who claims that others must adhere to even one regulation stated in the Old Covenant Law is

bound by the whole law:

And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised [a stipulation of one of the laws] that he is

a debtor to keep the whole law. (Gal 5:3)

Someone cannot just choose to adhere to one (or some) law and not adhere strictly to all the others, as

this would literally demonstrate Pharisaic hypocrisy. But by simply putting our faith in Jesus who obeyed

all the laws on our behalf, our sin (sinful condition) is imputed (carried over or given) to Him and His

righteousness is given to us as a free gift!

Romans 3:23

Many people also love to quote Romans 3:23 out of context to try and make God’s children feel guilty and

conscious of their mistakes:

…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Rom 3:23 NKJV)

But this verse seems quite different when it’s actually read it in the context of the verses around it. Let’s read

from verse 21 to 24:

21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and

the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all

who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴

being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. (Rom 3:21-24)

This means that now the Father doesn’t just see us as if we had never sinned, He sees us as if we had also

obeyed all the laws our entire life! Jesus took upon Himself what we deserved (our punishment) and gave

as a free gift to us what He deserved (the Father’s approval and blessings for 100% complete obedience).

Now that’s a pretty good deal, hallelujah!

Below is a paraphrased version of Romans 3:21-24 (compare it to the original verses above). May the

joy and jubilation of a soul set at liberty flood anybody that reads this. Praise God for the FREE

GIFT of righteousness!

21 But one day in the “court” of Heaven, the Law and the Prophets will stand up; point their finger to

every person who has believed in Jesus and say: “That person is righteous! 22 By putting their faith in

Jesus, everyone that believes is given the same righteousness as God!” 23 For although they

were once called “sinners” and fell short of the glory of God, 24 they were justified freely by His

grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. (Rom 3:21-24)

Lesson 11: First Adam and Last Adam

God created Adam perfectly in His own image, without sin or blemish. However through Adam’s

disobedience in the Garden of Eden, he died spiritually and became sinful by nature. The glory of God

which had covered him up to that point lifted off him and he became aware of his nakedness (lack of

glory). And since the seed of the entire human race was still inside Adam, every person born after him

would inherit this sinful nature at birth. Therefore through the sin of one man, death came into the world.

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death

spread to all men… (Rom 5:12a NKJV)

The result is that when every human being is born, they are born into this inherent sinful state (with a

sinful nature). W ithout asking for it, sin is automatically imparted to us at birth because of first Adam’s sin.

Thus when we are born, we are born into first Adam.

But when we come into Christ (last Adam) by simply putting our faith in Him, His righteousness is

automatically imputed to us as a free gift. W e are restored to first Adam’s original spiritual state of

being blameless, justified and glorified. On the inside we actually look exactly the same as Jesus;

we are conformed to the image of God’s own Son!

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He

might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called;

whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. (Rom 8:29-30

NKJV)

Thus when we are born again, we are born into last Adam.

First Adam, a Pattern of Last Adam

When a human being is born, they receive a sinful nature without asking for it or deserving it. Therefore if

anybody on the earth were to perish when they die, they would technically not do so because of

something they did wrong - they would perish because of first Adam’s sin and the sinful nature they

inherited from him as a free gift.

By the same token, whenever somebody is born again, they receive another, much greater free gift,

namely the righteousness of God. And again the fact that they would go to heaven is not due to anything

they did right, but because of what Christ did right on their behalf. We see therefore that neither the

sinful nor the righteous natures can be earned or deserved. The one is given by first Adam and the other by

last Adam.

For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one [first Adam], much more those who

receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One,

Jesus Christ

[last Adam].Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men,

resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men,

resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also

by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. (Rom 5:17-19)

In 1 Corinthians 15 we see Paul addressing this issue again:

For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die,

even so in Christ all shall be made alive. (1 Cor 15:21-22)

Because mankind’s spiritual life and authority was initially surrendered to the devil by a man, Christ also had

to come to the earth in the form of a man to take it back again from the devil, see 1 Corinthians 15:21

(above) again. Later in the same chapter Paul continues to portray Christ’s ability to impart life:

And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving

spirit. (1 Cor 15:45)

A.W . Tozer wrote the following: “What we need to restore power to the Christian testimony is not soft

talk about brotherhood, but an honest recognition that two human races occupy the earth simultaneously: a

fallen race that sprang from the loins of Adam and a regenerate race that is born of the Spirit

through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”

Now carefully consider the following two statements:

1) No amount of holy living or law keeping could move us out of our fallen state in first Adam. We were

stuck there and the only way to be saved was to put our faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9-10).

2) Likewise, the moment we come into last Adam (Jesus Christ), no amount of bad behavior or “unholy”

living can move us out of this position of perfect righteousness.

Although most Christians believe the first statement to be true, they have somewhat of a problem

believing the second. The first thought that comes into many people’s minds when reading the second

statement is this: “This guy is saying that I can just go out and do whatever I want!” This is mainly due to

the fact that people don’t understand the power of the New Creation yet and don’t have a revelation of

what a person is actually turned into when they are born again. When the Holy Spirit lives inside a person,

such a person does not want to sin - they actually want to serve God, to live an upright life as an example

to others and to love their neighbor, because this is the desire of the Holy Spirit within them. So in essence

we can actually go out and do whatever we want, because if the Holy Spirit is really living inside us we will

want to do good!

Another reason why most people find the second statement (above) so hard to believe is because we

forget that God does not relate to us based on our own level of obedience anymore. God is a spirit and

since we are also spiritual beings He relates to us (blesses us, loves us, provides for us) based on our

spiritual status, not according to our physical behavior. And since our spirits have been for ever made

righteous, God is forever pleased with us regardless of our behavior. God sees the perfect obedience

of His beloved Son whenever He looks at us and remembers how He fully defeated sin through Jesus’

death on the cross.

God does not count any of our sins (past, present or future) against us. He is not surprised when we sin.

He is not shocked by the ungodliness going on in the world today. God is perfectly content, at rest and at

peace, all the time enveloped in the amazing love of the Trinity (imagine the amazing love between the

Father, Son and Holy Spirit!). God is secure in Himself, secure in His bride and secure in us, His children.

He does not count our sin against us - He already had the rod of His punishment broken on the back

of Jesus. God established everlasting peace between Himself and mankind:

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

(Rom 5:1 NKJV)

Why then do we still try to justify ourselves by working so hard to gain God’s acceptance?

But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted

for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God

imputes righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,

and whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin”. (Rom 4:5-8

NKJV)

Our sin was imputed (accounted) to Jesus, so we can rest in our Father’s love, knowing that God

will never count our sins (past, present and future) against us anymore!

Lesson 12: Nullification of the Law

From the time of Adam and Eve until the time when the law was given to Moses and the Israelites, there was

no law in the world. God treated all those who believed in Him with love and grace, regardless of

their obedience or disobedience. Mankind did however still suffer the consequences of their own actions,

because the law of death reigned in the world:

Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to

the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. (Rom 5:14 NKJV)

The main difference between this period and the period after the law had been given, was that God did not

punish people for their sins back then.

But what about Adam and Eve who were chased out of the Garden after they had eaten from the Tree of

the Knowledge of Good and Evil? In this instance God was actually protecting Adam and Eve, because if

they had continued to stay in the Garden and eaten from the Tree of Life as well, they would have

continued to live forever, but in an everlasting state of sinfulness!

Abraham Not Under the Law

In Abraham’s time the nation of Israel did not yet even exist - remember Abraham was the father of Isaac,

who was the father of Jacob, who later became known as Israel.

God said to him, "Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be

Israel." So he named him Israel. (Gen 35:10 NKJV)

Israel had twelve sons who became the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel. And to these twelve tribes God

gave the law, but only 430 years after Abraham lived:

Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many,

but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four

hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in

Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. (Gal 3:16-17 NKJV, emphasis added)

Let’s look at a few more examples of how God treated people before the law was given:

After Cain killed his brother Abel, God still put a mark on Cain to prevent anybody from killing him and

God even said that if anybody tried to kill Cain, that Cain would be avenged seven fold! Cain’s actions

caused him to be cursed from the earth:

So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood

from your hand. (Gen 4:11 NKJV)

Perhaps he was even hated by people, but he wasn’t cursed by God. Look again: he was cursed from the

EARTH. God still loved him the same.

In Genesis 12 Abraham lied to Pharaoh about his wife Sarah to save his own neck because he thought that

the Egyptians would kill him due to the fact that Sarah was a very beautiful woman. Here we see that

even though Abraham was clearly in the wrong, God rebuked the Pharaoh! And what’s even more,

afterwards Abraham left Egypt laden with slaves and cattle and wealth! So Abraham lied but became rich.

Does this look like God was punishing him?

How Israel Landed Up in Egypt

So how did Israel end up in Egypt? Joseph was betrayed by his brothers who sold him to slave dealers and

he was taken to Egypt. He later interpreted the Pharaoh’s dreams and was appointed to the highest

position in the whole of Egypt, except for Pharaoh himself. The whole region suffered an extreme

famine and Joseph’s eleven brothers and their father (Jacob) came to live with him in Egypt.

So Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father's household. And Joseph lived one hundred and ten

years. (Gen 50:22 NKJV)

And that’s how the twelve tribes of Israel came to be in Egypt. They then began to multiply exceedingly

because God was with them. And after a couple of hundred years we see the following. Read Ex. 1:6-13.

Israel in the Desert

We can follow this thread of God’s grace to those who believed in Him, right up to the time where the

law was given (Exodus 19-20). Despite Israel’s murmuring and complaining in the desert, God always

provided for them (manna, water out of a rock, a pillar of fire, etc). He never punished nor killed even

one single person that believed in Him. But after Israel had received the law, we see a drastic change. They

now had to obey its requirements perfectly in order to be blessed and accepted by God, for they now had

to relate to God on the basis of their own level of obedience to the law. If they failed to hold up their end of

the bargain, God could not fail to hold up His end (by punishing them) because that would make Him a liar.

Israel were the ones who agreed to this covenant and said in their pride that they would obey all that God

commanded them to do, as if they were ever going to manage that!

And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will

be our righteousness. (Deut 6:25 NIV, emphasis added).

They were trusting that their own righteousness would be good enough to measure up to the standards of

the law, but sadly through history the story of Israel’s demise has been clear for all the world to see, as they

have fallen short of the standards of the law again and again. Let’s now take an in depth look at

what the consequences are of trying to live under the law. W e’ll look at several examples of how Israel

came up short of its requirements and the dire results it had for them. This might also help to shed some

light as to how a loving, kind God can punish and almost destroy an entire nation - and it must have

ripped His loving heart apart...

Blessings and Curses

One of the most shocking chapters of the Bible is Deuteronomy 28, where God gave Israel the promises of

blessing for obedience or of curse for disobedience. Israel would receive the promises of blessing only if

they obeyed ALL God’s commandments. Remember it was not only just the 10 Commandments but also

the 613 commandments and principles of law and ethics contained in the Torah or Five Books of Moses.

That meant that Israel had to keep all these commandments if they wanted to be blessed by God and the

same goes for any person today that expects God to bless them on the basis of obeying the law - it’s

not just the 10 Commandments but all these other laws as well. Let’s look at the first 14 verses of the

chapter, which stipulates the blessings they would receive for obedience: Read Deuteronomy 28:1-14.

And then in Deuteronomy 28:15-68 God set before them the curses for disobedience, which are too

numerous to list here. Now right there a warning light should have begun to flicker to Israel: This

covenant had only 15 verses of blessings but it had 52 verses of curses! Something wasn’t right! Doesn’t

this serve as even more proof that this covenant was an inferior covenant and not God’s best plan for

mankind? No right minded person would have agreed to the conditions of this agreement if they had

thought about it properly. Remember that the curses for disobedience were to befall them if they

disobeyed any of the

613 commandments of the Mosaic Law! The “Mosaic” Law was derived from

“Moses” who was Israel’s chosen leader at the time.

Too many people who still choose to live according to the Old Covenant Law today have very conveniently

decided that they can choose which commandments they want to obey and which ones they don’t like.

The trend is to write off the parts of the law, which according to these people, are not applicable because

they are merely ceremonies and rituals. However the Bible tells us that the law is a composite unity:

For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all (Jam 2:10).

The Bible is a shockingly visual book in certain parts, but we often prefer to skip to the parts that we like

or that we’re most familiar with. Take a deep breath as we read about a few of the consequences that Israel

had to face if they failed in one single aspect of the law:

“But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all

His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come

upon you and overtake you: (Deut 28:15 NKJV)

Also read Deuteronomy 28: 16, 21-30

Remember how Israel was carried away in captivity by their enemies? Ever wondered why God allowed this to

happen? Because they had a covenant with Him and when they didn’t uphold their part, God still had to

uphold His part because He cannot be unfaithful: Read Deut. 28:32-37, 41, 48.

Plagues in the Desert

So let’s go back to Israel in the desert, after God had given them the law. Because of their failure to hold up

their end of the covenant, God started sending plagues and calamities upon them, because He had to

remain faithful to His side of the agreement due to the fact that He cannot lie. Let’s read about a few

of these plagues.

Under the Old Covenant Law, God had appointed Aaron and the Levites as the only people who were

allowed to minister to Him. Now certain men rose up against them and Moses, claiming that they too had

the right to be priests, thereby breaking the law. Please read Numbers 16:1-14.

Then the next day 250 men brought their censers before God and were standing in front of the tabernacle,

and they gathered the entire congregation against Moses and Aaron. Continue reading Numbers 16:28-35.

Now one would think that the congregation would have learnt a lesson from this, but look what happened the

very next day. Complete by reading on …..Numbers 16:41-50.

Here is another example that can be found in Numbers 25:1-9. Please read.

Later we read about Israel being exiled to Babylon by king Nebuchadnezzar and being stricken by all sorts of

calamities due to their inability to live up to the standards of the law, thereby bringing into fulfillment

the promise that they would be captured and taken to another country in Deuteronomy 28:36 (above).

Still Living According to the Law?

Now after just reading how people were treated under that Old Covenant, the saddest part is that the

majority of the church today still tries to live according to the Old Covenant Law and then they wonder why

they are sick, poor, depressed, unhappy and dying? The reality is that Jesus died on the cross to carry the

curses of the law for us:

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written,

“Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”) that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the

Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Gal 3:13-14)

The following are examples of how the law can creep up on the church today:

 Sitting in a “Christian” meeting where the 10 Commandments or some of the other laws in the Bible are

read and we are told this is what we have to do to be blessed or accepted by God.

 Feeling guilty or condemned that we don’t do enough for God or that we don’t go to church, pray or read

the Bible enough.

 Feeling that God doesn’t hear our prayers because we have sinned in some way.

 Lacking boldness to approach God with confidence when we pray because we think He may be angry at us

for something we’ve done.

 Trying in our own efforts to be a “better person” or be “more holy” so that God can be pleased with us.

All of the above symptoms are signs that the law is trying to creep up on us. The Bible says there is now no

more law and where there is no law, there is no transgression of that law.

…because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression. (Rom 4:15)

Remember how Israel’s failure to comply with the law brought about the wrath of God? That’s exactly what

this verse is talking about, namely that the law brought about God’s wrath.

No Law… Again

At the beginning of this chapter we talked about how God didn’t punish people for their transgressions,

from Adam up to when He gave Israel the law, because during that period there was nothing to measure

their level of obedience against. Just like it was back then, so there is now no law for God to

measure our performance against. He can therefore not punish us or count our sins against us anymore,

because the law was crucified with Jesus!

…having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us.

And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (Col 2:14 NKJV)

No human being has ever been able to live up to the requirements of the law and no one ever will. God knew

this and therefore He sent His Son Jesus in the form of a human to accomplish this feat on our behalf:

For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son

in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the

righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but

according to the Spirit. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells

in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. (Rom 8:3-4, 9 NKJV)

These first two verses say that the righteous requirements of the law (in other words 100% obedience ALL of

the time) were met by Jesus. And Jesus then also took upon Himself the full punishment for the sin of the

entire world

(because according to the law, sin had to be punished) even though He didn’t deserve

it. Thereby the punishment of sin was served once and for all! Jesus justified all of those who put their faith

in Him, bringing peace between God and mankind once again:

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

(Rom 5:1 NKJV)

The following verse clenches it:

For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. (Rom 5:13 NKJV)

This verse says that before the law had been given, even though people sinned, God didn’t count their

sins against them because in essence there was no law to break. And now since there is now no more

law to keep or to break either, we can approach God with boldness, even if we have just messed up!

Because where there is no law there is no transgression of the law. And where there is no transgression,

there is no punishment.

Lesson 13: The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15)

Two alternative names for this parable could have been “The Parable of the Angry Elder Brother” (the

attitude of much of the church today) or “The Parable of the Loving Father”.

Note that the son was a “SON” first before he became the “prodigal son”. This implies that Jesus was not

talking about an unbeliever that receives salvation for the first time, but about a born again believer that went

out from his father’s house to live according to the desires of his flesh. Then when the son beat himself

up and groveled in self- pity and guilt about how unworthy he was, thinking his father was going to

punish or reject him because of the sins he had committed (does this sound familiar?), note that his Father

did not love him anymore or any less. In fact when he returned home his Father didn’t even want to

listen to his confession, but simply overwhelmed him with kisses and affection flowing from His heart of love.

We sometimes forget that God has already forgiven all our sins (past present and future):

…that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to

them… (2 Cor 5:19a NKJV)

He is always on the edge of ambushing us with another wave of His goodness. It is not our confession

of mistakes that “restores” God’s approval of us - we were already reconciled with Him over 2000 years

ago when Jesus took our punishment on Himself and He has been pleased with us ever since. By

putting our faith in God’s grace, we become partakers of all the benefits of the New Covenant including

a new born again nature, having the person of the Holy Spirit living inside us, as well as healing,

deliverance, blessings, life, wealth and much, much more!

This parable also illustrates that born again believers can live subject to the laws of this world if they live

in unbelief of God’s promises. It is actually possible to live like a pauper in the house of a King! Yes God

has given us precious promises in His W ord, but we have to believe in them to receive them. Bad choices

and our refusal to believe in God’s goodness and His attitude of favor towards us may have dire

consequences for us in our lives here on earth:

For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the

Spirit reap everlasting life. (Gal 6:8 NKJV)

This corruption refers to suffering loss in the natural realm. If we sow to the flesh we will not have our minds

renewed, not walk in the promises of God (because we will persist in unbelief) and not live life to its fullest

in our Father’s house.

Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master

of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so we,

when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of

the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those

who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons,

God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you

are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. But then, indeed,

when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. But now after you

have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and

beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and

seasons and years. (Gal 4:1-10)

When believers begin to see that they have been truly set free from the law (including observing the Sabbath

and all the other commandments), it will not only stop them living like beggars in bondage to the elements of

this world, but also bring about a divine sense of royalty - not an arrogant and prideful “I am better

than others” attitude - but an inner realization of their true identity: “I am a citizen of heaven and my Father

is the King of the universe.”

However, even if we do stumble into what the world sees as some huge sin (the prodigal son spent half of

all the money his father had on sleeping with prostitutes and consumed everything on his fleshly lusts)

there is still grace upon grace for us from God.

But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. (Rom 5:20b NKJV)

“Older Brother Syndrome”

Like the older brother, fellow believers may choose to judge a backslidden Christian for the things he /

she has done, but God will never judge His children nor be angry with them ever again according to the

covenant He made:

For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer

cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. For the

mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you,

nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has mercy on you. (Isa 54:9-10)

Just like many Christians today, the older brother, when he saw his Father showering love on a person that

didn’t deserve it, became angry and resentful. This is what being under the law does to a person. The

legalists work and work their backsides off for God and think that He owes it to them to bless, love

and approve them in return. Look at the elder brother’s words:

Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time.

(Luke 15:29)

Just like many people today grade their relationship with God by how well they manage to obey the law, the

older brother thought He could earn His Father’s approval through his own level of obedience. And then

when God blesses someone that didn’t deserve it (“grace” is giving someone what they don’t deserve),

the legalists become angry and jealous and hate that person. Instead they should realize that none

of us deserve any of it anyway and just get over it and get happy!

Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and

dancing. (Luke 15:25 NKJV)

Right now, this is what’s happening in heaven. There is music and dancing in our Father’s house! It

should actually make us wonder how so many churches can be so dull, introspective, reserved,

conservative and religious on Sunday mornings…

Let us therefore praise God for His grace and bask in His presence daily so that our minds will be renewed

and we can start doing the works that Jesus did. And most important of all: Don’t forget there’s a party

going on in heaven! God is pleased with us in spite of our mistakes. He is happy! He is secure in His love for

us! He is in a good mood!

Lesson 14: Can a Christian “Fall Out of Grace”?

Being constantly surrounded with people and circumstances that demand from us our best performance, we

can easily fall into the trap of feeling that God disapproves of us when we are not performing at our best.

In our journey towards maturity in Christ however, it’s quite normal for believers to make mistakes. God

knew that we would not be instantly transformed in our minds when we became His children; the

process of renewing our minds and overcoming old habits can sometimes take years. And in a world

where churches predominantly preach law based and performance oriented living, we can often

underestimate the vastness of the grace of our Father.

Let’s consider whether a believer can fall “out” of the grace of God. Some people may feel that there is a

sin that God can’t ever forgive them for, perhaps unforgiveness towards another or maybe they’ve

even committed adultery or murder. Let’s see what the Word says.

You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from

grace. (Gal 5:4 NKJV)

The only way to fall out of grace is by trying to observe the law. We do not fall from grace when we stumble.

In fact the more someone has sinned, the more grace God gives to cover that sin:

Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded

much more. (Rom 5:20). Thus, when we sin we fall into grace.

Sin in the Congregation

A number of Christians, when they realize this truth, go out and sin quite profusely, trying to make up for

all the times they had restrained themselves previously, when they still thought that God would not accept

or forgive them if they committed this or that sin. The Bible teaches us however not to indulge in the flesh:

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh,

but through love serve one another. (Gal 5:13 NKJV)

Probably the most difficult thing for pastors / shepherds during this period is not to become anxious or

insecure about their flock, even as they see how some Christians purposely set out to indulge in sin. The

law preachers would say that they have now given their flock “a license to sin”. This is why some

preachers simply avoid teaching on grace, because they fear it would cause the church to break out into

immorality. W ell consider this fact: Christians sin, whether they are under law or under grace! The only

difference is that grace sheds light on the sin. The problem was always there, but previously it was under the

covers and grace has now brought it into the open. When someone turns on a torch in an old attic, they

don’t say “Look at all the dust this light has created!” No the dust was always there. It was simply exposed.

But when a church has been established on the foundation of grace, even if some have initially set out to

sin (all they will learn in any case is that sin brings about destruction, unfulfilment and bad consequences),

they will always make the return to their Father when they know He loves them unconditionally, like the

father loved the prodigal son in Luke 15. In fact, God’s children would return faster and serve God even

more than before when they realize that their destructive behavior does them no good and that only by

running back to the arms of their Father will they find fulfillment in life.

Are we willing to preach grace to the extent of being misunderstood, persecuted and hated, like the apostle

Paul?

… the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, [is] to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

(Acts 20:24b)

Paul was serious to the point of cursing people about this specific gospel, namely the gospel of grace!

But even if we or an angel from Heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to

you, let him be eternally condemned! (Gal 1:8 NKJV)

Are we willing to believe in the goodness of our Father so unconditionally that no matter where we may

have run off to or what we have squandered our inheritance on, that we can still run back to our Father’s

house and believe we will be welcomed with open arms and a fatted calf? Yes we can believe it, God is that

good!

Lesson 15: Do Christians Need to Repent?

The answer is a resounding “YES”! However the word “repent” means something entirely different than what

Christians have made of it today. Re means “again” or to “go back to”. Pent means the top (like a

penthouse). Thus combined this means to “go back to the top”. This implies that when we make a mistake,

all we simply have to do is change our thoughts and go back to God’s thoughts towards us. And what are

God’s thoughts? Unconditional love and acceptance because Jesus paid the full price on our behalf.

Let’s journey together and endeavor to defuse the bomb that has been crafted from this word by the modern

church.

The actual Greek word for repentance, Μετάνοια

(met-an'-oy-ah), denotes a simple change of mind

that brings about a change of outward behavior. It does not however imply that we need to constantly

remind ourselves of our mistakes and try to stop doing this or that deed. Doing this would only turn it

into a sin management program, which is exactly what many Christians have turned their entire lives into.

No, good conduct is the result of having been changed from the inside out and not something that we do in

order to try to be changed.

Repentance has different implications for believers than for non believers. Basically it comes down to this:

When a Christian is told to repent, it means to change their thinking about their position in Christ,

or change their theology to line up with the truths of having been eternally forgiven, justified,

made righteous, etc. Whenever a non believer is told to repent, it means they need to change

their thinking about what Jesus means to them and come to a place where they admit they need Him

as their Lord and Savior.

Let’s take a look at a few examples of where the word “repent” or “repentance” was used in the New

Testament. The Bible is God’s love letter to His children. Let’s take the sting out of “repentance” today

and see it for the beautiful thing it actually is.

Example 1

Before the cross, Jesus and John the Baptist told people to repent and to be baptized, but they were

both preaching under the Old Covenant to people that were still under the law (remember the New

Covenant only began after the cross). John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance, pointing non-believers to

Jesus:

Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they

should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus”. (Acts 19:4)

Example 2

For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive

that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice, not that you were made

sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you

might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation,

not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. (2 Cor 7:8-10 NKJV)

Paul was writing his second epistle to the church in Corinth (which means they were Christians) and after

his severe rebuke to them in his first letter, he was exceedingly glad they had taken his words to heart,

turning away from the wicked ways in which they had previously been conducting themselves. In his

previous letter he reprimanded them for practicing such wickedness as were not even known among non

believers:

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not

even named among the Gentiles - that a man has his father’s wife! (1 Cor 5:1)

Let’s look at the Greek word used for “salvation” in 2 Corinthians 7:10:

σωτηȡία (so-tay-ree'-ah). Feminine of a derivative (properly abstract) noun; rescue or safety (physically or

morally): - deliver, health, salvation, save, saving.

Paul wasn’t saying that these believers were going to lose their salvation if they persisted with these

evil works; he was saying that their turning away from these things actually saved them from a whole

heap of heartache, pain and dire consequences later on. Just imagine the conflict that would exist in a

church if it became known that a boy was sleeping with his mother!

But because these people changed their thinking and realized that their conduct was actually not in line

with their identity as purified, cleansed and forgiven believers, they were motivated to change their ways,

hence Paul’s praise for them in this, his second letter:

Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with

comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation. (2 Cor 7:4 NKJV)

It’s worth noting that their motivation to change their behavior was neither a threat of punishment nor

the danger of losing their salvation: it was the revelation that they were unconditionally loved by God in

spite of their evil conduct! God’s promises and love to them remained true in spite of their conduct and this

brought about their change of heart. Look at the opening words of this same chapter:

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh... (2

Cor 7:1a)

Paul told them that because they had God’s promises (of love, blessing, eternal life, etc.) they should get

their act together, not that God was going to reject or punish them for their transgressions.

Example 3

Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.

(Act 17:30)

In this chapter Paul was preaching to non-believers in Athens:

Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the

city was given over to idols. Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the

Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. (Act 17:16-17)

Paul was telling these people who were wholly given to idolatry, to repent and be saved. He urged them

to place their trust in the “unknown” God in verse 23. They had so many gods and temples and statues in

their city that someone had even erected an altar that had been dedicated to the “Unknown God”. Paul then

used this as an opportunity to tell them about Jesus Christ and the resurrection, whereof they had no

prior knowledge. And by God’s grace, some were born again that day!

Example 4

“Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those

in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles,

that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance. (Act 26:19-20)

Here Paul explained how he told the Gentiles (unbelievers) to repent (become born again) and then, just

as in our example 2, he motivated them to afterwards do works that corresponded with who they would

become after they had repented: Sanctified, forgiven, holy born again believers. These two verses therefore

pertain to non believers and then also to believers.

Example 5

…how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and

from house to house, testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith

toward our Lord Jesus Christ. (Act 20:20-21 NKJV, emphasis added)

Again Paul was telling non-believers to put their faith in Christ (as in example 2), calling it “repentance toward

God”.

Repentance From Dead Works

Probably one of the most important verses concerning repentance is found in Hebrews 6. This book

was written to Jews who had become born again, but they were still holding on to some of their traditions

and law abiding customs. They were however Christians.

Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not

laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. (Heb 6:1

NKJV, emphasis added)

The writer of Hebrews was listing a few basic foundations of the Christian faith, amongst others

“repentance from dead works”. When we try to earn God’s approval by reading more Bible, tithing, praying

long prayers, joining outreach ministries or even giving all that we have away, it is called “dead works”,

because our security and feeling of belonging is based on what we do and not on what Jesus has done for us.

In broad terms the book of Hebrews is a summary of the superiority of the New Covenant over the Old,

with the New Covenant based on the finished work of the cross and us simply believing in what God has

already done for us and the Old Covenant based on ceremonious law keeping and religion, based on

inferior promises and the traditions of men. Therefore in Hebrews 6:1 above, the writer was not talking

about us having to repent of our sins, but instead to stop trying to earn our salvation and to stop trying

so hard to please God, because He is already pleased with us since we are His children!

To summarize, when a non believer repents it means they put their faith in God and become born again.

When a believer repents it simply means they change their thinking to line up with God’s thoughts,

turning away from deeds that do not portray their true identity as a forgiven, purified believer. It also means

turning away from dead works, which means to quit trying to be justified through their own level of

obedience and beginning to rely on the finished work of the cross and the blood of Jesus, which grants

believers unrestricted access to God’s favor and acceptance.

To repent does not mean to sit in sackcloth and ash and plead with God for forgiveness every time we make

a mistake, as this would be disregarding the once for all, 100% perfect sacrifice of Christ and believing

that our sin is more powerful than the blood of Christ:

By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Heb

10:10)

Lesson 16: What is the Unforgivable Sin?

This issue hangs over the heads of millions of Christians like a heavy fog that just simply will not clear

away. Mostly this question is asked by those who do not yet have a full revelation of the Father’s true nature.

Jesus accurately portrayed the Father’s nature (having had firsthand experience in heaven) when He

told the parable of the prodigal son. Even though believers agree that we are saved through faith, there still

remains with some people a slight “caution” of God, a fear of rejection or punishment for not continually

performing at our best, or perhaps failing to confess some hidden or forgotten sin.

The following verse is commonly quoted:

…but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal

condemnation. (Mark 3:29 NKJV)

Blaspheming against the Holy Spirit indirectly implies that such a person has not yet been saved. Here’s why:

The moment someone is born again they are filled and sealed with the Holy Spirit:

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also,

having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. (Eph 1:13 NKJV)

The Holy Spirit cannot blaspheme against Himself, because since He is God this would mean He is

blaspheming against God. No, the Holy Spirit glorifies the Father and testifies to the fact that Jesus had

come in the flesh:

By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh

is of God. (1 John 4:2 NKJV)

So this means that no person that has been given the Holy Spirit, can speaking by the spirit blaspheme

against God. If a person blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it means the Spirit they have is not the

Holy Spirit, which means they have not yet been saved and therefore cannot be forgiven for their sin

(because they don’t believe in Jesus). However once such a person repents and puts their faith in Christ,

all their sins are forgiven.

When we sin, we fall into grace. The bigger our sin, the bigger the grace that covers the sin,

according to Romans 5:20 (and remember we’re not encouraging people to go out and sin). If we

ever think that there’s a sin that cannot be covered by God’s grace, we are actually saying that the

punishment that was bestowed on Jesus was not harsh enough and that our sin is more powerful than the

power of His forgiveness! Those who do this are trampling the grace of God under foot.

Only One Unforgivable Sin

There is one sin however, that can’t be forgiven. And this is also a very misunderstood scripture…

Jesus had just told His disciples He would be going away, but that He would send the Helper to them; the

promised Holy Spirit:

And when He [the Holy Spirit] has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of

judgment: (John 16:8 NKJV, annotations added)

Most people stop here and think this verse means the Holy Spirit’s job is to convict them of sin; that He

is always supposed to make them feel guilty about “unholy areas” in their life. However most people miss

the fact that there is a semi colon at the end of verse 8. This means that Jesus was about to explain what He

had just said! So let’s read the next verses as well:

8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: ⁹

of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you

see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. (John 16:8-10 NKJV)

Verse 9 says the Holy Spirit will convict the world of their sin of unbelief in Jesus, thus He is referring

to unbelievers. Also, it says “sin”, not “sins”. Unbelief in Jesus Christ is the only sin that Jesus could

not die for. This is the only sin that God can’t forgive. A person has to believe in Jesus if they want to be

saved!

Lesson 17: Is Grace Simply a License to Sin?

This topic has presented itself in the form of numerous questions and statements in the past, such as the

following:



Does preaching grace lead to a careless lifestyle?



Won’t people run out and sin recklessly if they get too “deep” into the grace message?



We cannot preach grace to new believers because they are not mature enough to be trusted with such

freedom yet.



Taking the law off believers gives them a license to sin.

All these statements fly straight in the face of what the Bible teaches about grace:

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying

ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age.

(Tit 2:11-12 NKJV)

First let us consider how the truth of grace influences a person’s thinking. When we begin to comprehend

what the message of grace is all about (how God pardoned the sins of the whole world (Hebrews

10:17); abolished the written code of the law (Colossians 2:14); set people at liberty to live free from the

fear of judgment and punishment (1 John 4:18); how believers are encouraged to have boldness when

approaching God (Hebrews 10:19-21); that we can be confident that God will never be angry with us ever

again (Isaiah 54:9-10) and many other truths like these), it is clear that a proper understanding of these

matters will in fact not encourage a person to want to sin, but rather inspire such a person to be more

thankful toward God for all He has done, to live a life worthy of the sacrifice made by Jesus and to deny

ungodly conduct as stated in Titus 2:11-12 (above).

In Romans 4 Paul writes about this same thing:

5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted

for righteousness,

just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God

imputes righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,

and whose sins are covered; 8 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin. (Rom 4:5-

Here Paul was quoting the words of David from Psalm 32:1-2. David was looking forward into the future and

prophetically saw the New Covenant with all its benefits, such as grace, forgiveness of all sins, unconditional

love and acceptance, etc. He expressed his longing to live under this covenant, since he was still bound by

the law of having to perform rituals and make regular atoning sacrifices for his sins. David also wanted to

live in the freedom that we now have, being justified freely through our faith in Christ.

In verse 6 we see the word “blessedness” used. The Greek form of this word is actually “blessednesses” (in

the plural form). David was about to describe the different kinds of blessedness that believers would

have under the New Covenant, hence the semicolon at the end of verse 6:

In verse 7 he said that people would firstly be blessed in the New Covenant because all their sins have

been forgiven. Everything immoral they’ve ever done has been swept into the deepest parts of the

ocean and since God is not really into deep sea diving, He’s not going to go down there and dig them up

again.

In verse 8 he said that people would also be blessed because God would never count any of their

future mistakes against them either. Most law preachers have a major problem with this second

type of blessedness, considering it to be a blank cheque to go out and sin. However the W ord says what it

says…

Mostly the arguments and questions against the grace message, such as the ones mentioned at

the beginning of this chapter, come from people who are not necessarily afraid that they themselves

will be deceived into wanting to commit more sin, but their arguments are for other “weaker” Christians who

in their opinion do not yet have the maturity to handle the responsibility that comes with such freedom.

Therefore they insist that the truth of the grace message be taught with a healthy dose of law mixed in to

warn these “weak” Christians against the perils of sinning.

How ironic is it then that the Bible actually teaches us that sin doesn’t increase through grace, but rather

through the law:

God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and

more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant (Rom 5:20 NLT).

Grace actually came in and removed the sin that was made more abundant through the law!

So for someone to say that grace is a license to sin, it simply serves to expose such a person’s ignorance

to what grace actually means and stands for. It reveals that they don’t understand that the power of the

Holy Spirit inside a believer (reminding them of their complete 100% righteous standing before God) is an

infinitely stronger empowerment for “good behavior” than threatening someone with the law.

Therefore as a result of these truths, the legalists can all relax and come to terms with the fact that the Holy

Spirit can be trusted with the transforming work in the life of a believer:

…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until

the day of Jesus Christ. (Phil 1:6 NKJV)

Nobody appointed us as each other’s moral policemen, so how can we ever try to assume that function?

The truth is that grace can never be reduced to an

“acceptable” level to compensate for the

insecurities of legalists. Due to the extreme nature of the law, grace also needs to be preached in its purest

form in order to free people from the poison and prison of “works based” mindsets.

Lesson 18: Do Christians Have a Sinful Nature? (Indwelling Sin)

Because of a regrettable misinterpretation in some translations of the Bible of the Greek word sarx (which

directly translated means “flesh”), the doctrine of the “sinful nature” or “indwelling sin” has been propagated

and preached with amazing conviction for centuries. It has caused sincere believers to try and live up

to manmade moral standards, without realizing that in doing this they only subject themselves to

endless frustration, lack of confidence before God and an expectation of punishment to come their way.

In the original Greek language which the New Testament was translated from, the word sarx was used to

describe over a dozen different concepts, such as the sinful nature, human flesh, sexual intercourse,

carnality, etc. The W.E. Vines Expository Dictionary of Bible Words lists 14 different meanings for the

word sarx. The only way to determine the meaning of sarx in a particular part of scripture is to look at the

context. Some Bible translators attempted to translate sarx into what they thought it meant in that particular

context, but many got it wrong. Only the translators of the literal translations (e.g. KJV or NKJV and a

few others) did not change the word sarx into what they thought it might mean, but left it in the English

verses simply as

“flesh”, allowing the reader to interpret the context. That’s why Romans

7 and

some other passages appear to be so confusing in some translations, because sarx (which means “flesh”)

was replaced with “sinful nature” every time!

Here’s an example of where sarx was interpreted in two different ways:

I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have

not met me personally [personally = sarx]. (Col 2:1 NIV)

For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as

have not seen my face in the flesh [flesh = sarx]. (Col 2:1 NKJV)

Spiritual Circumcision

Now when the Bible talks about the “inward man”, the “new man” or the “new nature”, it speaks about the

born again spirit of a believer. The

“sinful nature” or

“old man” refers to the evil, sinful nature that

every person in the earth is born with. This nature is at enmity with God and alive to sin, but it was

completely cut out from us the day we became born again:

In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by

the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ (Col 2:11 NIV).

Note this is not a physical circumcision, since the verse says “not with a circumcision done by the hands

of men”. It must therefore be a spiritual circumcision, meaning the cutting away or the removal of the

sinful nature.

Crucified and Buried with Christ

In Romans 6 Paul uses another image of how our old sinful nature was completely removed. At salvation,

a Christian’s sinful nature is actually conveyed back through time to the cross and crucified and buried

with Christ:

…knowing this, that our old man [sinful nature] was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be

done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. (Rom 6:6 NKJV, annotations added)

After we are born again, we are not “sinners” anymore, even though we sometimes make mistakes. There

is not one verse in the entire New Covenant that calls a born again believer a “sinner”. The term

“sinner” refers to a person that has not yet been born again (this is consistent throughout the entire New

Testament after the cross) and yet we find most Christians today thinking: “I am just an old sinner.” No we

are not!

Under the Old Covenant people had to be circumcised on the eighth day in accordance with the law.

Under the New Covenant God circumcises the heart of the believer, removing (cutting out) the old evil

nature (see Colossians

2:11 above again) and giving us a new resurrected spirit that is created in

100% perfect righteousness like Christ. God also writes His laws on our hearts which simply means He

gives us the desire to please Him (but of course we know He is actually already pleased with us because

of what Jesus did on our behalf).

For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. (Rom 7:22 NKJV)

This means that our new reborn spirit desires to please God and delights in Him.

The following comparisons between literal and conceptual Bible translations clearly illustrate

this misconception. Please note we’re not criticizing certain Bible translations, rather we’re addressing

the misconception in the church about a born again believer’s inner nature, as well as the translation of the

word sarx:

…in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live

according to the sinful nature [sarx] but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the sinful

nature

[sarx] have their minds set on what that nature

[sarx] desires; but those who live in

accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. (Rom 8:4-5 NIV)

Now compare:

…that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to

the flesh [sarx] but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh [sarx] set their

minds on the things of the flesh [sarx], but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the

Spirit. (Rom 8:4 NKJV, annotations added)

It is very easy to see from the first example that a believer can be made to believe that they still have a sinful

nature on the inside. However from the second example the correct interpretation can be made, namely

that believers who set their thoughts on the things of their unrenewed minds (old thought patterns, bad

habits, etc), will live to try and gratify those desires and not walk according to the desires of their new

born again spirit man. We do not have to battle a sinful nature anymore, the battle is now merely

in our minds. Our minds need to be trained (renewed) to line up with the truth of the Word of God.

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature

[sarx]; rather, serve one another in love. (Gal 5:13 NIV)

Compare with:

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh

[sarx], but through love serve one another. (Gal 5:13 NKJV, annotations added)

Since we do not have a sinful nature anymore, we cannot actually indulge in it as mentioned by the first

example here. This is a really a no-brainer. Here’s another example:

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature [sarx]. (Gal 5:16 NIV)

Compare with:

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh [sarx]. (Gal 5:16 NKJV)

We can’t gratify the desires of our sinful nature because we don’t have one! However if we train and

discipline our minds to line up according to the desires of the born again spirit on the inside, our old

habits and thought patterns will begin to starve.

There are many more examples to illustrate this point, but I think we get the idea. Now consider this: The

above verses, coupled with the fact that most people today believe whatever they read

(without

thinking about it) in whatever translation of Bible they have, plus the fact that the modern church has

taught for centuries that Christians do have a sinful nature (and that we have to deny this sinful nature, fight

it tooth and nail and put it to death!), it is easy to see that we can be conned by texts that are read out of

context.

Now we may ask: “Why then do Christians still sin? If we don’t have a sinful nature, why do we still keep

on making mistakes, feeling like we are disappointing God and falling short of what we think God expects

from us?” This is what we will be talking about in the next chapter.

In closing, we need to ask ourselves this question: Has God left us with a remnant of our old, evil nature

(which would mean He did an incomplete job), or did He do a complete work and remove the whole thing?

Lesson 19: Why do Christians Sin? Pt 1 (Unrenewed Mind)

In the previous chapter we proved from scripture that God has completely removed our sinful nature when

we were born again. God completely changed us when we came into salvation; we are brand new!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things

have become new. (2 Cor 5:17)

Is our body gone? No. Is our mind gone? No. But the above verse definitely says that something “old”

has passed away! It is our old spirit man, the sinful nature (indwelling sin) that was completely removed

and replaced with a righteous, born again spirit that was created perfect in the image of Christ.

…and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and

holiness. (Eph 4:24 NKJV)

Now the question poses: If God completely removed our sinful nature, why then do we still make

mistakes? Why do we still do things that seem contrary to this Godly nature that was birthed in us? The

answer is two-fold and we will discuss it over these next two chapters:

1) Because of our unrenewed minds (this chapter)

2) Because of external temptations / distractions (next chapter)

Unrenewed Mind

When we were born into this world with a fallen, sinful nature that was at enmity with God, we lived

according to this nature, fulfilling its lusts. W hen this sinful nature (also called the “old man” in the Bible)

told us to commit sin, we did it.

Sin came into the world through one man, and his sin brought death with it. As a result, death has

spread to the whole human race because everyone has sinned. (Rom 5:12 GNB)

We had no desire to please God and as a result our minds were trained to obey the desires of this sinful

nature, with our body simply running after what our mind told it to do. The sinful nature can be seen as

the “control room”, the driving force behind our decision making. And the mind (soul) was then trained

and became accustomed to operating in whichever mannerisms and habits the old sinful nature exercised

ov er it. Our minds were therefore trained and programmed in sin, lustfulness, self preservation and unbelief

and we learnt all sorts of bad habits.

Then at salvation, when our sinful nature was completely removed (when we were born again), God gave

us a completely new, fully righteous spirit man on the inside, created 100% in the image of Christ, with

all of Christ’s righteousness and virtue.

Now suddenly our mind (soul) realizes there is a new “control room” on the inside, but it appears as though

this new

“control room” operates in an entirely different way than the old one. And that’s why it

sometimes feels as though there is a war raging inside of us, with the mind battling against our new inner

man, namely the born again spirit. For years and years the mind (soul) was trained in a certain way and

now the new man has to train the mind to operate in a different way.

Previously we spoke about the Greek word sarx (which means “flesh”) that has different meanings in different

contexts. Let’s look at its context in the following scripture:

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh [sarx]. For the flesh [sarx] lusts

against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh [sarx]; and these are contrary to one another, so that

you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Now the works of the flesh

[sarx] are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness,

lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions,

dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries. (Gal 5:16-22 NKJV, annotations added)

Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians, who were born again believers, thus they did not have a sinful

nature anymore. Bearing in mind what we have discussed above, it can clearly be seen that in this context,

the word “flesh”

(sarx) simply means the unrenewed mind (it cannot mean

“sinful nature” since we

established previously that Christians don’t have a sinful nature anymore). Paul was saying that all

these lusts were simply works of the believers’ unrenewed minds. An unrenewed mind is wired to

operate as though the person still has an old sinful nature, even though they haven’t.

Directly after the verses above, Paul then contrasts the works of the flesh by listing the very well-known fruit

of the spirit:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness, self-control. (Gal 5:22-23 NKJV)

These are also called the fruit of the Holy Spirit, but actually our born again spirit and the Holy Spirit are

joined together, so these can also be seen as the fruit of our born again spirit.

But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. (1 Cor 6:17 NKJV)

When we do these good things, they are only a fruit of the 100% righteous new spirit man that is inside of us;

we don’t do them to try and please God or to be more holy, because we are already 100% holy on the inside!

Therefore it can clearly be seen that if our mind is unrenewed, it is at war with our born again spirit and this

is simply one of the reasons why we read the Bible, go to church, pray, worship, etc, namely to renew

our minds; not to earn God’s acceptance, because God is already pleased with us. How can He not be

if we were created in the very image of His Son Jesus?

This concludes the first reason why Christians still do things which the law calls sin (even though we

don’t have a sinful nature anymore), namely because of an unrenewed mind. Next we’ll deal with the

second reason: External temptations.

Lesson 20: Why do Christians Sin? Pt 2 (External Temptations)

Previously we established from scripture that born again Christians don’t have a sinful nature anymore.

We also talked about one of the reasons why believers, even though they no longer have a sinful nature, still

sin, namely because of an unrenewed mind. In this chapter we will talk about the second reason:

external temptations.

Many people still have the idea that after Christians are born again, they still have a part of that old,

evil, sinful nature inside them and that they have to live everyday trying to kill that evil nature with its

desires, fighting it tooth and nail, hoping to somehow eventually reach a place where they can feel they have

behaved good enough to be able to approach God with confidence.

This misconception is often prompted by verses such as these:

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. (Rom 6:12 NIV)

…but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. (Jam 1:14 NIV)

The word “evil” does not appear in the original language in either of these verses, but was inserted by

the translators, who were trying to interpret a concept (they were convinced that Christians still had a

sinful nature), rather than allowing the readers to interpret the context themselves. A true born again believer

is not evil anymore; we have a 100% holy and righteous spirit man living on the inside of us that wants to

please God in everything it does. But we still stumble sometimes because of our unrenewed mind (soul),

which was trained to think and operate the way it does by years of conditioning and suffering under the

control of our old evil sinful nature. Thus the above two verses make more sense when we read it out of

a literal translation (note the word “evil” has been omitted):

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. (Rom 6:12 NKJV)

But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. (Jam 1:14 NKJV)

If Christians could flick a switch that would enable them to stop sinning immediately and walk in obedience

100% of the time, they would flick that switch in a heartbeat. The children of God want to please God and

live holy because their new spirit man has the desire to please God. But sometimes we do not walk

according to this spirit man and we mess up. But we can be confident that when we sin, there is always

an abundance of grace to cover that sin!

Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded

much more. (Rom 5:20 NKJV)

God knew our minds would not be renewed in a heartbeat and that we would always, until we go on to be

with Him in heaven, struggle with some form of sin (either in our minds, thought patterns, attitudes)

and therefore He took the sin “problem” out of the way completely at the cross by pouring out His full

indignation against sin on the Lamb. Jesus bore the full brunt of the punishment for our sins.

A second reason why Christians keep on doing things that the law calls “sin” (even though they don’t have

a sinful nature anymore) is because of external temptations. Temptation appeals to our body and soul

(mind), but not to our born again spirit man. The body will follow like a slave to whichever one of these two

we yield control to.

For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the

Spirit reap everlasting life. (Gal 6:8 NKJV)

This verse simply means that when our unrenewed mind lusts after some carnal thing and we yield our

body to it, the body will be a slave to sin and reap the earthly consequences of that sin. Yes earthly

consequences, because all the eternal consequences (the punishment) were dealt with at the cross. But if

we walk according to the desires of our new inner spirit man, the body will be a slave to righteousness

and reap the benefits, both temporal and eternal.

Another great advantage of walking after the spirit includes having our mind (soul) transformed. The

mind can be affected and influenced

(trained) by the spirit to learn obedience, but the spirit can

Lesson 21: Understanding the Book of Job

This often misquoted, misunderstood book in the Bible has been the cause of much blame to fall on God

for causing sickness, poverty, despair, loss of loved ones and suffering. In fact it’s almost strange if

any Christian has not at some point in their life blamed God for something bad that’s happened to them,

thinking: “If He allowed it to happen to Job, He’ll allow it to happen to me”.

According to theologians, the book of Job is probably the oldest book in the Bible, written even before Moses

recorded Genesis to Deuteronomy. Job was an upright and God fearing man:

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright,

and one who feared God and shunned evil. (Job 1:1 NKJV)

Since the law and 10 Commandments had not yet been introduced, there was no standard of holiness to try

and measure up to and Job had free and open access to God’s presence. Then one day the

following happened:

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan

also came among them. And the LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan

answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth

on it”. (Job 1:6-7 NKJV)

How did Satan ever manage to get to heaven and appear before God? This is a topic we will look at in depth

in our next two chapters.

The point is, even if Satan could at one point manage to stand in heaven before God, he can’t do it

any longer. Shortly after Jesus had sent out the seventy disciples, they came back to Him, rejoicing that

even demons were subject to His name:

Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.”

And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven. (Luk 10:17-18 NKJV)

Satan was cast out from heaven (again) on that day! He no longer had any right to stand before God

and accuse mankind of anything! Therefore we do not have to fear that Satan can report any bad conduct to

God anymore. It has all been forgiven at the cross.

Job and His Friends Accuse God

During the period that Satan tried to destroy Job, things were made even worse by Job’s friends who

came and reasoned with him, trying to share their “wisdom”. W e saw in Job 1:1 that Job was a righteous

man, but now Eliphaz accused him of being sinful and that his suffering was because of his iniquity:

“Remember now, whoever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright ever cut off? Even as

I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. (Job 4:7-8 NKJV)

Job himself also accused God of quite a few atrocious things:

God throws me into a pit with filth, and even my clothes are ashamed of me. If God were human, I

could answer him; we could go to court to decide our quarrel. But there is no one to step between us -

no one to judge both God and me. Stop punishing me, God! Keep your terrors away! (Job 9:31-

34 GNB)

Job claimed that God was responsible for killing him, yet he maintained he would still trust God. This

sounds quite a bit like those who accuse God for killing their children or loved ones, but say they still

“trust” Him. If God were responsible for doing such things, why would people even still want to be

Christians? How can we trust someone that murders our loved ones?

Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. (Job 13:15a NKJV)

God Has His Say

In the end, after going around in circles many times and having the issue even more confused by his three so

called friends, God steps in and speaks to Job from within a violent storm:

And now, finally, GOD answered Job from the eye of a violent storm. He said: "Why do you

confuse the issue? Why do you talk without knowing what you're talking about? Pull yourself together,

Job! Up on your feet! Stand tall! I have some questions for you, and I want some straight answers.

(Job 38:1-3 MSG)

God then goes on to describe the spectacular ways in which He created the universe, including animals,

the oceans and the heavens and asks Job if he were ever present when these things were created. In the

end Job realizes the error of his ways and his foolish words and he becomes too distressed to speak:

Job answered: "I'm speechless, in awe - words fail me. I should never have opened my mouth! I've

talked too much, way too much. I'm ready to shut up and listen." (Job 40:3-5 MSG)

You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did

not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. (Job 42:3 NKJV, emphasis added)

Now if we can forget about being religious and think logically for a moment: If somebody were to talk about

things they did not understand, what are they actually doing? They are talking rubbish! Job was

talking rubbish! He even admitted it several times! We can therefore, like Job, not accuse God for

punishing us, allowing difficulty in our lives, stealing from us or anything of the like since we would be talking

rubbish.

Our Father is a good God and a giver of good things:

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with

whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. (Jam 1:17 NKJV)

If anybody claims they are going through a “Job experience” but they do not come out twice as rich

and blessed on the other side, then they’ve not really experienced what Job went through, but

instead felt firsthand what it’s like to be robbed by the devil:

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have

life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:10 NKJV)

These are the only two job descriptions in the Bible - it’s up to us to decide who is responsible for which…

Lesson 22: Super Abounding Grace!

Moreover the Law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded

much more. (Rom 5:20 NKJV)

This verse isn’t referring to a particular sin, because if it did we’d never be able to tell exactly which sin Paul

was referring to. Instead it refers to the inherent tendency to sin and hostility towards God that entered

the human heart in the Garden of Eden. Through his disobedience Adam was turned into a sinner by

nature. Adam then passed this inherent sinful nature on to all his offspring. Yes it was only a

single act of disobedience, but it opened his heart for the sinful condition to enter.

Every human being inherited this sinful nature from Adam and the reason why the law was given was to

stimulate our sinful nature so that we become more aware of our sinful condition.

Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to

the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. (Rom 5:14 NKJV)

Because of Adam’s sin, the whole world became guilty. If anybody were to end up eternally separated from

God, it would not technically have been because of their own sins, but because they inherited Adam’s

sinful nature at birth. In the same way, nobody will inherit eternal life because of their own goodness or

level of obedience, but only because of their faith in Jesus’ perfect obedience:

But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the

grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. (Rom 5:15)

Because of Jesus’ obedience, those who believe in Him are justified by faith. It almost seems unfair that

a person would be eternally condemned for sins they didn’t even commit, but likewise it’s also unfair

that people should go to heaven because none of us deserve it.

The Law Arouses Sin-Consciousness

When God gave the law, it was meant to come in beside sinners to show how huge our lack of holiness really

was. It wasn’t given to turn mankind into sinners, because sin and death already existed even before the

law was given (Romans 5:14 above). The purpose of the law was to show mankind the depth of their

depravity. God didn’t introduce the law because He wanted to make us sin more - He wanted us to be more

conscious of our sins and the fact that we had an utterly sinful nature. Notice in Romans 5:15 (above) that

Paul does not say “offenses” (plural) but “offense” (singular), which is a reference to the sin or sinful state

of Adam. A few of the heroes of the faith made the following comments:

Charles Spurgeon: “A stick is crooked, but you do not notice how crooked it is until you place a straight

rule by the side of it. You have a handkerchief, and it seems to be quite white. You could hardly wish it

to be whiter. But you lay it down on the newly fallen snow, and you wonder how you could ever have

thought it to be white at all. So the pure and holy law of God, when our eyes are opened to see its purity,

shows up our sin in its true blackness, and in that way it makes sin to abound. But this is for our good, for

that sight of our sin awakens us to a sense of our true condition, leads us to repentance, drives us by

faith to the precious blood of Jesus, and no longer permits us to rest in our self-righteousness. It was the

practical result of the giving of the law that men became greater sinners than they were before, and it was

the design of the law that they should see themselves to be greater sinners than before. The law is the

looking-glass in which we see our spots, but it is not the basin in which we wash them away. The law has a

provoking power, for such is the perversity of our (old) nature that, no sooner do we hear the command,

“You shall not do so-and-so,” than at once we want to do it”.

So we see the law was given so that sin might abound. Our key verse however says that where sin

abounded, grace abounded much more! Let’s look at some quotes on grace that abounds:

There are two words used in that verse for abound or increase. The first one is pleonazo (used with “sin”),

which means “is more than enough” or “to have enough.” The other word (used with grace), perisseuo, is

actually a synonym, but when they are used together, they are saying different things. Pleonazo means to

abound, but perisseuo means to go even beyond that (and) takes it to a greater extreme. Not only that, but

Paul put a preposition, huper, in front of the word perisseuo (huperperisseuo). So what he is saying is that

not only does grace extend beyond where sin increased, but grace goes WAY beyond”.

In his book, “What’s So Amazing About Grace,” Phillip Yancey points out that part of our problem is in the

nature of grace itself. “Grace is scandalous. It’s hard to accept, hard to believe, and hard to receive. Grace

shocks us in what it offers. It is truly not of this world. It frightens us with what it does for sinners. Grace

teaches us that God does for others what we would never do for them. W e would save the “not-so-bad”.

God starts with prostitutes and then works downward from there. Grace is a gift that costs everything to the

giver and nothing to the receiver. It is given to those who don’t deserve it, barely recognize it, and

hardly appreciate it. That’s why God alone gets the glory in your salvation. Jesus did all the work when he

died on the cross”.

The law added transgressions, showing even more clearly the super-abounding (huperperisseuo) grace

of God. Grace did not set aside the law, but rather completely satisfied it. As deep as sin goes, God’s

grace goes deeper. As wide as sin is, God’s grace is wider. W hen sin abounded, grace super-abounded.

God’s grace is greater than all our sin.

Additional information worth considering of Paul’s use of “abounds” and “super-abounds”: “In the Greek,

these are two different words.

“W here sin overflowed, grace flooded in.” W here sin measurably

increased, grace immeasurably increased. W here sin abounded - pleonazo - grace did much more abound

- huper-perisseuo. The prefix huper is like the Latin “super”. The movie ads have taught us what “super”

does to a word. Instead of being colossal, something is super-colossal. So, where sin could be measured

by multiplying the number of commands of the law by the number of human beings in the world, grace

could never be measured because it would require the multiplication of the number of acts of God’s grace

by the infinity of His being. Our text might well read: “Where sin was finite, grace was infinite.”

Why is it so easy for people to believe that they were condemned and made sinners because of

someone else’s sin, but they find it so hard to believe that similarly, by someone else’s superior, perfect

and all encompassing sacrifice, they were made righteous forever?

Lesson 23: Saved by Grace, But What Comes Next?

When we talk about grace, most people will say they know grace and that they have been saved by grace

through faith:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of

works, lest anyone should boast. (Eph 2:8-9)

But the majority will then add that these verses only refer to the actual point of salvation. From this point

we need to move on to the more important aspects of the Christian life like sanctification, living a “holy”

lifestyle and becoming more effective for God. They say we have to

“work out” our own salvation,

completely misquoting Philippians

2:12. This verse doesn’t say we need to

“work for” our salvation.

“W orking out” our salvation means to “figure out” (i.e. “work out”) how beautiful, complete and wonderful our

salvation is. It also means to start allowing what’s on the inside of us flow outward. The Holy Spirit wants

to touch the outside world from within us. That’s what it means to “work out” our salvation.

The churches of the Galatians started well. They knew they were saved by grace initially, but then they

started relying on their own efforts to “keep” themselves saved. Let’s see what Paul wrote to them:

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes

Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did

you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having

begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? (Gal 3:1-3 NKJV)

When Paul talked about grace to the Galatians, he wasn’t talking about being born again to non believers;

he was talking to believers, people that were already born again. He said that they had started well in grace,

but now they had come under the pressure of people that preached law, who said they had to be

perfectly obedient in order to receive God’s blessings. Here in Galatians 3 Paul was telling them that

they should continue in the grace of God, just like he told the church of the Colossians:

Col 2:6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord [by simply believing and not by trying to

earn it], so walk in Him. (Col 2:6 NKJV, annotations and emphasis added)

Now think for a moment; how did we receive Him? We simply believed. How should we therefore continue

to walk in Him now that we are born again? By simply believing. If grace was enough to save us, grace

is enough to keep us.

God’s blessings, healing and prosperity does not come through striving, through our own works of

righteousness or through trying to live holy. It comes through being established in the gift of righteousness,

the righteousness we first received as a gift when we came into Christ. We can never leave our

foundation behind. The bigger we build the building, the more we have to strengthen the foundation, which is

grace.

Sanctification?

In the modern day church there is a dangerous misconception that God initially accepts a person

unconditionally on the basis of grace, but once they are saved they now suddenly have to perform at

a certain level for God to continue to accept and bless them. The Bible talks about two types of

righteousness: The righteousness of God (receiving salvation, God’s approval and blessings by faith) and

self righteousness (going back under the law and trying to receive all the above by trying to earn them

through good works). But prevailing in most churches today is a third type of righteousness, one that is

mentioned nowhere in the Bible: Once we are saved, we leave behind grace and the righteousness of God

as a gift and try to become more righteous by our own good works - this teaching is often disguised behind

another misunderstood word called “sanctification”, which by the way has nothing to do with trying to sin less.

The only way to get free from this trap is by becoming more established in the righteousness of God as a

gift. Once we realize that we can never add to the righteousness that was given to us as a gift and that our

best efforts are like dirty rags, we will see that only by trusting in the perfect obedience of the One Man,

Jesus Christ, can we have confidence before God.

But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. (Isa 64:6 NKJV)

This verse says all our RIGHTeousnesses are like filthy rags, not our UNrighteousnesses. So it is not

talking about our mistakes, but about our good works. Good works done from a motive of trying to earn

God’s love through them are considered to be like filthy rags. The original Hebrew language actually

refers to a woman’s menstrual cloth - that’s really how bad it is!

Some preachers start well, preaching grace and unconditional love to get people saved. But then when

they see people’s lives change because of the grace of God, they start seeing this as a fruit of their own

teaching and they begin to emphasize holy living at the cost of grace.

Take the Test

How do we know that we have been established in the grace of God? If we can say immediately after

we have stumbled morally that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21) and

that nothing we ever do can change that! Remember we’re not saying that people should use grace as an

excuse to sin (see the chapter entitled “IS GRACE SIMPLY A LICENSE TO SIN?”).

We need the innocence of a child restored to us, feeling as though we have never sinned because God has

forgiven all our sins past present and future:

Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. (Heb 10:17 NKJV)

When we reach that place of boldly approaching the throne of grace with our conscience clean of

any accusations from Satan, we can say we have been established in the gift of righteousness. God doesn’t

want us to feel guilty about any sins, because why should we be reminded of our mistakes if God

doesn’t remember them anymore?

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living

way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the

house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts

sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb 10:19-22 NKJV)

Lesson 24: Do Christians Need to Confess Their Sins? Pt 1 (James 5:16)

Just the pure mention of somebody questioning a topic like this could offend and anger a lot of people.

Confessing is different from repenting: repentance has to do with a person changing their thinking,

while confession means to bring into remembrance something from their past. W e’ve already dealt with

repentance earlier. Let’s now look at confessing.

The real question that we should ask when talking about confessing our sins is this: “When a Christian sins

(makes a mistake), is their right standing with God lost and can that right standing only be restored if the

person confesses the sin?” If we can forget for a few minutes all the things we’ve heard people say,

including the traditions of men that have been passed down to us, as well as the way we “think” we should

react when we make a mistake, then let’s see what the Word says.

There are only two verses in the New Covenant (1 John 1:9 and James 5:16) that deal with confessing sin

and both are mostly misunderstood. Firstly we will look at James 5:16 and in the next chapter at 1 John 1:9.

Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The

effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. (Jam 5:16 NKJV)

There are no verses in the New Covenant (after the cross) other than James 5:16 that tell believing

Holy Spirit filled Christians to confess their sins or trespasses. Furthermore this verse does not instruct

us to confess to God. James 5:16 says we have to confess our faults to each other - not to God.

Now some scholars have interpreted James 5:14-16 to mean that God makes people sick because they

have sin in their life. These same verses have also been misinterpreted to mean that people have to

confess their sins to priests or to the elders of a church and that they will subsequently be forgiven their sins

and healed if they confess to a person. Let’s read the two verses preceding our key verse:

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him,

anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the

Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. (Jam 5:14-16 NKJV)

After the cross God has forgiven all our sins past, present & future (Hebrews 10:17, Colossians 3:13).

The only transgressions that we as New Covenant believers may still need forgiveness for, is from the

people we have sinned against. However God has already forgiven us for these sins as well. Since

none of us are perfect in all we do, we sometimes offend, hurt or harm people. And since people are not

as gracious and merciful as God, we need to make amends with them. And that’s where James 5:16 comes

in: “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed…”

Our right standing with God does not change, but our relationships with others can be damaged and need

to be restored. W hen we humbly confess to those we have wronged (and if they will receive us in

humility) it opens the door for that restoration to happen.

The Vertical and Horizontal Dimensions

There are two relational dimensions to always keep in mind: Firstly there is the vertical dimension

pertaining to our relationship with God. The foundation for this relationship is the finished work of the cross

and God’s love for us. It’s not based on our unstable level of obedience.

Secondly there is the horizontal dimension pertaining to our relationships with other people. These

relationships are definitely based on our own levels of loyalty, love, affection and good works. By this we

are not implying that people should give their best to other people and just present God with their second

hand scraps. However the basis of God’s love for us is not grounded in our level of good works or

obedience, but in who we are: His beloved children who have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us!

Even when David had called for a ballot (census) of Israel, God gave him the option of choosing one of

three punishments for doing such a thing (under the law God had to punish man but under grace Jesus

bore the punishment for our sins). But because David knew God’s true nature, he chose to be punished by

God, and not by man:

So Gad [the prophet] came to David and said to him,

“Thus says the LORD:

‘Choose for

yourself, either three years of famine, or three months to be defeated by your foes with the

sword of your enemies overtaking you, or else for three days the sword of the LORD - the plague

in the land, with the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.’ Now

consider what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.” And David said to Gad, “I am in

great distress. Please let me fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are very great; but do

not let me fall into the hand of man”. (1 Chron 21:11-13, annotations added)

We are always safe and secure in God’s unconditional love, but the love of people is dependent upon

our own good behavior. We will find that very few people will continue to love us if we persist in insincerity,

lying, fits of rage, violent behavior, etc.

To clinch this and prove that the context of James 5:16 is about our relationships with other people and not

about confessing our sins to God, let’s read a few more verses from James 5, just a few verses prior to

our key verse:

Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and

the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts. (Jam 5:4 NKJV)

Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned… (Jam 5:9 NKJV)

In this context, where people have wronged and hurt each other, James is telling them to make amends;

to be reconciled with each other and to confess their faults to each other, especially at beds of affliction

where death and eternity seem to be near approaching.

Another interpretation is that James 5:16 does not mean that we should reveal our sins and trespasses

to every second person. James implies that we should confide our problems to a close, trusted friend so that

he or she can help us by praying to God for help in overcoming it.

Lesson 25: Do Christians Need to Confess Their Sins? Pt 2 (1 John 1:9)

In Part 1 we spoke about James 5:16 and the fact that it relates to our relationships with other people. Now

we’ll look at the only other verse in the New Covenant which talks about confessing our sins: 1 John 1:9.

Firstly and most importantly note we are not propagating a sinful lifestyle. We are not encouraging people to

just go out and commit hideous deeds of licentiousness and immorality. We believe in obeying God and

living a holy lifestyle, but these are only the fruit. The root is being established in grace and

righteousness and knowing who we are in Christ.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all

unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9 NKJV)

This verse has to be read in the context of the rest of the book of John - written to a group of believers

whose ranks had previously been infiltrated by teachers of Gnosticism. The apostle John seems to be

gentle whenever he addresses the Christians, calling them “my little children”. But in other parts of his

letter, when he is countering the teachings of the Gnostics, he becomes quite protective of his brothers

and sisters in Christ and his words quite harsh.

At the time that John wrote this letter, the Gnostics had already left the Christians:

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have

continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

1 John 2:19 NKJV)

However remnants of the Gnosticism teachings were still confusing the Christians that remained.

Gnostics are people who believe that creation is flawed and that it was fashioned by a flawed creator, a

movement out of which the “Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints” (Mormons) has arisen. The

gnōsis referred to in the term is a form of mystic, exposed but also obscure knowledge through which the

spiritual elements of humanity are reminded of their true origins within the superior Godhead, being

thus permitted to escape materiality

(or by implication to enter eternity). Consequently, within the

sects of Gnosticism only the “pneumatics” or “psychics” (the two highest forms of spirituality) obtain gnōsis.

The duty of (spiritual) man is to escape the material world by the aid of the hidden knowledge (gnosis).

Jesus of Nazareth is identified by some Gnostic sects as an embodiment of the Supreme Being who

became incarnate to bring gnosis to the earth. In other Gnostic sects

(e.g. the Notzrim and

Mandaeans) he is considered a false messiah who perverted the teachings entrusted to him by John

the Baptist. They also believe that there is no such thing as sin in the world and as an unbeliever

that you do not have to acknowledge that you are a sinner to be born again.

Even though the books of 1 to 3 John were addressed to the church, 1 John 1:9 was not a command for

people to grovel in sack cloth and ash. Instead it is simply a statement to contradict the false teachings of

the Gnostics.

There were people in the Apostle John’s church (who had not yet been born again) who were self

righteously claiming that they did not need to confess their sins to receive eternal life, or that they did not

have any sins! They were still confused by the teachings of the Gnostics, even though the Gnostics had

already left. John countered their lies with the following:

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8 NKJV)

And then in the next verse he reveals how to be saved:

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all

unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9 NKJV, emphasis added)

God would cleanse them from all unrighteousness if they would only confess that they needed to be forgiven

of their sins.

Paul Ellis (Escape To Reality)puts it as follows: “How do I know that John is talking to unbelievers and not

Christians? Because he is addressing people who are walking in darkness

(v.6), who need to be

purified from all unrighteousness (v.9) and who, by insisting that they have never sinned, are making God

out to be a liar

(v.10). What message does John have for sinners who don’t think they’re sinners?

“Acknowledge your sinful state, turn to God and receive His gift of forgiveness.” There’s only one thing

that stops a sinner from receiving God’s grace and that’s unbelief. If you don’t see your need for

forgiveness, you are well and truly lost. You may claim to know God but He doesn’t know you.”

1 John 1:9 were addressed to the believing Christians (the ones who were already saved), it would then

contradict the following verse:

Little children, I write to you because you have been forgiven your sins through His name. (1 John

2:12 NKJV, emphasis added)

Why would John command people to confess their sins if he says a few verses later that they have already

been forgiven? Also, if confessing our sins to God were such an important practice in the life of a believer,

why did the writer of the majority of the New Testament, Paul the Apostle, not command us to do it

even once?

Under the New Covenant all our sins (past, present and future) have been forgiven. Now we don’t need

to forgive others anymore in order for God to forgive us; now we forgive others because we have already

been forgiven.

…even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. (Col 3:13b NKJV, emphasis added)

The born again spirit of a Christian is 100% righteous and will remain 100% righteous for all of eternity

in despite their less than perfect behavior during their remaining time on the earth. If this were not the

case, there would be no other way to explain the following “contradicting” verses:

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our

sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we

say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-10, NKJV)

Now compare these three verses against the following “seemingly” conflicting verse:

Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because

he has been born of God. (1 John 3:9 NKJV)

The only explanation is that in the first three verses, even though John used the word “we”, he was in fact

not referring to believers, but in an inclusive manner, to unbelievers. As a shepherd and a preacher he

was identifying with the lost in an open display of God’s love, saying “We have all sinned, we all need to

repent”. Instead of attacking and ridiculing the unbelievers openly, he was tactfully saying something along

the lines of this (compare these with the verses above):

(v8) If any person claims to be without sin, they are deceived and the truth (Christ) does not live inside them

(because Christ said “I am the truth, the way and the life). (v9) But if such a person (a sinner) acknowledges

they are sinful and in need of a Savior, God who is faithful will forgive them all of their sins and wash them

clean of all unrighteousness (implying that they are now clean for ever). (v10) However if any person

claims they have never sinned, they make God into a liar and willingly reject the truth of His word.

Think about it this way: What does a person have to do to be born again? They have to admit that they

need a Savior and put their faith in Christ

(Romans 10:9-10). Therefore if any person claims to be

without sin before putting their faith in Christ, they are deceived and blinded to the truth. This is the heresy

that John was countering in this epistle.

Countless doctrines have been formulated by the modern day church about confessing our sins to God,

all based on this one verse (1 John 1:9). It’s quite amazing if we realize there are no other verses in the

entire New Covenant that back up this theory! It’s even more remarkable when we realize that this verse

was not even intended for Christians who have put their trust in the grace of God, but for self-righteous

people!

Being “Real” With God

But now the question might arise: “Why would God not want us to confess our sins to Him? After all, we do

make mistakes!” The answer is simple: Because walking around the whole day remembering all the bad

things we have done will not bring us closer to God! Jesus already paid the full price so that we could

have unbroken fellowship with the Father. This means that when we make a mistake, it does not

break our fellowship or right standing with God. Jesus was forsaken by his Father on the cross so that we

would never have to experience that!

Some may argue: “But I want to be genuine with God and talk to Him about all my mistakes.” W ell if

people believe they need to be “genuine” with God about their mistakes, then to be really genuine they

should rather act in faith, because without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). How much

faith does it take to look at our mistakes and feel miserable about them? None. On the other hand, it takes

faith to believe we are forgiven, loved, holy, perfect and righteous, even after we have just messed up.

We shouldn’t be surprised at the puzzled look on God’s face whenever we try to confess our sins to

Him. This is because He doesn't actually know what we’re talking about. After all, He promised to never

remember our sins ever again (Isaiah 43:25).

Be Conscious of Your Righteousness!

Does this mean that we can just go out and live a life of full blown wickedness and depravity because

our fellowship with God will never be broken, even if we sin? No! But it definitely means that God wants

us to have confidence before Him and to be more aware of our righteousness and His grace than

of our shortcomings and mistakes.

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and

living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having

an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith,

having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb

10:19-22 NKJV)

How can we have boldness before God if we have to grovel on our knees and plead for the forgiveness of

our sins every time we pray? And if we can’t have confidence before God, how then can we even dream to

stand in front of a blind person and say confidently: “Blind eyes open in the name of Jesus!” W e’d

always feel that God does not want to use us because we have too much sin in our liv es. No amount of

crying, confessing, remembering our sins, emotional torment or anything we can do can add to the finished

work of the cross, where our sins were forgiven once and for all!

So whenever we find ourselves conscious of our sins, we simply say: “Thank You Jesus for the perfect work

of the cross that has removed my sins completely. Thank you Holy Spirit for convicting me of righteousness;

not my own, but the righteousness given to me as a gift! I praise You that nothing that I do can ever

change that or ever separate me from Your love!”

Grace does not mean the denial of occasional mistakes in our lives - that is a dangerous thing to do -

rather grace removes the punishment and guilt of that sin. Grace is what makes us worthy!”

Is God Schizophrenic?

Does God sit in heaven with a pencil and eraser, monitoring our every move the entire day? Does He blot out

our names from the Book of Life every time we mess up, just to write it back in when we confess?

W hat about if we forget to confess? Is our salvation really that insecure? Does God change His mind that

easily?

To Confess or Not to Confess?

In closing, the Bible teaches all unbelievers to confess their sins to God to be born again and come into

Christ (1 John 1:9), but the Bible does not teach born again Christians to confess their sins to God.

There is however nothing wrong with confiding in our loving Father about our struggles. He understands

us better than anybody else. But it’s all about our motives. When we mess up, do we run to Him feeling

guilty and condemned like a murderer about to be condemned to retribution? Or do we ask Him for

wisdom in overcoming the habits of our unrenewed minds, knowing we stand completely forgiven and holy in

His sight?

Lesson 26: Making Your Brother Stumble

The Corinthians were proud about how much they knew. In 1 Corinthians 8:1 when Paul begins to talk

to them about eating food that has been sacrificed to idols, he says “W e all have knowledge.” Now

previously they had written Paul a letter, enquiring of him in an almost rhetorical fashion about this matter of

eating food that has been sacrificed to idols. They knew that idols were nothing and that there is only one

true God. And since Jesus declared all food to be clean, they knew that they could eat anything they

wanted to, whether it had been sacrificed to idols or not:

"There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out

of him, those are the things that defile a man.” (Mark 7:15 NKJV)

So being proud of the fact that they knew so much, basically they only expected Paul to confirm their point of

view. However, Paul saw right through their pride and pointed out to them that they had become puffed up

in their knowledge:

Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but

love edifies. (1 Cor 8:1 NKJV)

In 1 Corinthians 8:7 Paul continues to explain what he meant by this. The Corinthians, having become

puffed up by their knowledge, had neglected to love those around them that were not as strong in the faith

as they were. Some Christians who were still immature in the faith did not yet have the revelation that

nothing in itself is unclean. Christ through the cross had made everything clean and He removed all curses

from us, whether those curses could come to us through food, through ornaments or objects brought into

our homes. He took onto Himself all curses or spells that could be cast onto us by witches, Satanists,

fortune tellers and wizards; all the curses that could come onto us through disobedience, by eating

unclean food, breaking the 10 Commandments or anything else!

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written,

“Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”). (Gal 3:13 NKJV)

Paul points the Corinthians to something very important at the end of 1 Corinthians 8:1: “…but love edifies.”

Paul had written the Christians in Rome the same thing previously:

I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who

considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. Yet if your brother is grieved because of

your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ

died. (Rom 14:14-15 NKJV)

Not Just Food…

Now this matter of food can be applied to just about anything and it simply comes down to us not being the

cause of stumbling to those who are not yet strong in the faith.

But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. (1

Cor 8:9 NKJV)

Paul was saying that we should not let our freedom in eating certain foods, drinking certain drinks,

watching certain movies, going to certain places, etc. be the cause of stumbling and offense to someone

that has not yet reached that place of maturity and freedom in Christ.

In verse 7 and 10 Paul asks the Corinthians what it would mean for a Christian that has less knowledge, to

see someone that they respect, eating the food that has been offered to an idol:

However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now

eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. (1 Cor 8:7 NKJV)

For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him

who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? (1 Cor 8:10 NKJV)

The new and “weak” Christian might have just come out from under serving other gods and might still

be thinking those gods are real and powerful. Now when they see the mature Christian eating that food,

would it not suggest to the new Christian that those old beliefs might still have some truth in them?

The same applies to us. If a person that has just come out of a bad addiction to alcohol now sees us drink

something a little stronger than milk (which by the way there is nothing wrong with), wouldn’t that perhaps

be a cause of stumbling to them?

In 1 Corinthians 10 Paul reinforced this again: Please read I Corinthians 10:24-33.

Legalists Not to Take Advantage

On the contrary this does not give legalistic, self-righteous people an excuse to put pressure on others

(who are more free in the faith than they are) to stop doing this or that thing. If a mature Christian believes

strongly with full integrity that things like dancing, drinking beer, smoking, watching violent movies, etc. is

wrong, then there is nothing wrong with that. But a person should not make others believe that he / she is

still weak in the faith and expect others to quit going to parties for their sake. Such a person should

rather reflect on their beliefs and convictions and question whether the freedom that was purchased on the

cross is perhaps much bigger and wider that they think. God dealt with the “sin problem” completely by

punishing our sins fully on Jesus.

To conclude, if we are ever in doubt about whether we should do something or not, the following verses carry

tremendous truth:

All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be

brought under the power of any. (1 Cor 6:12 NKJV)

All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things

edify. (1 Cor 10:23 NKJV)

We have actually been given a legal license to indulge in just about anything, since our sins (even the

future ones) have all been forgiven. We know however that not everything that entices our flesh is

beneficial to us, such as chemical addictions, the praises of men, premarital sex, over-indulging in food,

alcohol or even too much exercise. Although we have been freed from eternal and spiritual punishment of

sin, sin carries its own destructive consequences here on the earth. W e also know that if we’ve been truly

born again, the desire of our born again spirit man is to live a life that pleases God and not indulge in these

works of the flesh.

We’ve been given freedom to do whatever we want, which also includes making the right choices, loving one

another, renewing our minds, healing the sick and advancing God’s kingdom here on the earth!

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh,

but through love serve one another. (Gal 5:13 NKJV)

Lesson 27: Sons of Abraham

The gospel of the New Covenant centers on the fact that God has changed the way He relates to

mankind, not through the obedience of the law, but through grace alone. Through faith in Jesus Christ

alone we are justified:

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even

we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the

works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. (Gal 2:16 KJV)

God made promises to Abraham in Genesis 12, saying that Abraham would be blessed, that God would

make his name great and that in him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. God later in Genesis

15 and 17 confirmed these promises to Abraham with a covenant. And for the simple reason that

Abraham believed God, God counted Abraham’s faith to him as righteousness

And he believed in the LORD; and He accounted it to him for righteousness. (Gen 15:6 NKJV)

God also blessed Abraham with an abundance of earthly possessions.

Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. (Gen 13:2 NKJV)

Many years later, God made another covenant with a group of “stiff-necked” people. After having just brought

them out of Egypt with ten mighty plagues and providing for their every need in the desert, Israel still refused

to believe that God wanted to bless them simply because He is a good God. Now imagine for a second just

how hard a person’s heart needs to be for them to still believe that God isn’t good after all He’d done

for them! The writer of Hebrews tells us that this was the reason why Israel had to wander the desert for

forty years before they could enter the Promised Land. All those who refused to believe in God’s goodness

died in the desert:

Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.

For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?

Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell

in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who

did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. (Heb 3:12, 16-19 NKJV)

And this is the reason why God gave them the law. Under the law they would have to live morally, perform

rituals, make sacrifices and fully hold up their side of the deal in order for God to bless them. But

through much of the Old Testament we see the sad unfolding of Israel’s failure to comply with the

requirements of the law. They were defeated, taken captive, their cities destroyed and they were scattered

across the earth.

Two Covenants to Choose From

During the period starting from when the law was given, up to the cross, there existed two covenants in

the earth: The covenant of the law and the covenant which God had made with Abraham. And here’s the

shocker: at any moment in their history, Israel could have chosen to come out from under the law and live

again under the covenant that God had made with Abraham, once again believing that God would bless

them and see them as righteous not because they tried to live up to the law, but simply because they

believed in God. The covenant of the law did not cancel the promises that God made to Abraham!

Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many,

but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four

hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in

Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer

of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise. (Gal 3:16-18 NKJV)

Under the Old Covenant, laws were given to obey, but under the New Covenant promises are given to believe

in. Jesus came to the earth more than 2000 years ago to fulfill the requirements of the law, thereby

canceling it and effectively nullifying the Old Covenant for believers:

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.

Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will

make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah - not according to the

covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the

land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD.

In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. (Heb 8:7-9, 13 NKJV)

Then a few hundred years later Jesus came onto the scene. Those who were still trying to live according

to the Old Covenant tried to oppose Him, claiming that they were children of Abraham because of their

natural descent. Jesus had something else to say to them:

They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s

children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told

you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You are of your father the devil,

and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not

stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own

resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.

(John 8:39-40, 44-45 NKJV, emphasis added)

Here we see clearly that these people did not believe (in) Jesus; they stubbornly refused to believe He was

the Son of God. They were committing the same sin of unbelief as the Israelites hundreds of years

before them in the desert! Yes Israel in the desert may have had a different “type” of unbelief (refusing to

believe that God was good), but it was still unbelief in God.

The next scriptures tell us that those who believe in Jesus are sons of Abraham and are blessed along with

Abraham simply because they believe.

Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing

that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying,

“In you all the nations shall be blessed.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with

believing Abraham. (Gal 3:7-9 NKJV)

Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all

the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham,

who is the father of us all. (Rom 4:16 NKJV)

When we understand this, it changes the way we receive from God, because we don’t have to think

about whether we’ve been good enough or too bad in order to receive from God. It changes the way

we pray because we’re praying from a place of victory, and not for victory. It changes the way we see God;

not as a harsh being who judges us for being bad or blesses us for being good, but a loving Father

that blesses simply because we believe in Jesus Christ His Son.

Lesson 28: Why Live Holy?

The entire New Covenant speaks against trying to “live holy” in our own strength and be justified though our

own efforts. God no longer relates to us according to our own level of obedience, but according to the

perfect obedience of the One Man, Jesus Christ.

For as by one man’s disobedience [first Adam] many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s

obedience [Christ] many will be made righteous. (Rom 5:19 NKJV, annotations added)

Yet we see many verses in the New Covenant that still advocate a saintly lifestyle. What would be

the purpose of this? W hy do we still need to maintain a moral lifestyle if God’s love or approval of us does

not fluctuate based on how well we behave?

The verse above talks about our positional standing before God. In God’s eyes, once we’ve put our faith

in His Son Jesus Christ, we will always be justified and righteous before Him because when the Father looks

at us, He sees Christ. We are in Christ (1 Corinthians 1:30) and nothing can ever take us out of Christ.

However, often we try and detach ourselves from Christ after we’ve messed up. Frequently after

believers have broken their moral wings, they feel that their actions are being scrutinized by God under a

magnifying glass, but this is not the case. The Father sees the perfect obedience of Jesus on our behalf!

Therefore when we stumble morally, we can rest assured that God’s love and approval of us remains

steadfast.

On the contrary, when the Bible talks about relating to people, we are constantly stirred to “love one

another”, “keep the bond of peace”, “forgive one another” etc. People are not as gracious as God and

we need t o maintain “good works” if we want to preserve our relationships with people, but not with God.

Note that we are not saying that people should live disobedient to God. However the context of most

scriptures in the New Covenant that talk about holy living and good works pertain to maintaining our

relationships with other people. Without trying to spiritualize, let’s look at some examples and interpret

these scriptures for what they literally mean:

Example 1

Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members

of one another. (Eph 4:25 NKJV)

If we keep lying to people we will get into trouble sooner or later when our lies catch up with us.

Example 2

“Be angry, and do not sin”. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. (Eph

4:26-27 NKJV)

When we stay angry with someone for an extended period of time, we give the devil a foothold in our

relationship with that person.

Example 3

Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he

may have something to give him who has need. (Eph 4:28 NKJV)

When we steal from others, it is bound to have a detrimental effect on our relationship with them when they

find out. However if we work and earn money honestly, we will have enough to assist those who may

have need.

Example 4

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may

impart grace to the hearers. (Eph 4:29 NKJV)

Once again this is referring to people, because it says our words should edify the hearers.

Example 5

Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man

who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek

nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness,

longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another;

even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. (Col 3:9-13 NKJV)

Since we have been purged from our old sinful nature, it actually does not befit a believer to lie to his

brother anymore since that would be completely contrary to the character of the Holy Spirit that now lives

inside that believer. In short, it’s just plain dumb to act in a manner that is contrary to one’s new identity.

The fruit of the Holy Spirit will permeate the life of a believer that is established in grace to such an

extent that mercy, kindness, forgiveness, humility and all such divine traits will freely flow unto those around

him.

There are many other examples, but I think we get the point: God doesn’t love us less when we mess up, but

people do - unless they are mature Christians that understand grace and know that nobody’s behavior

is perfect.

Acting According to Our New Nature

If we have died to sin

(because our sinful nature was

“cut” out of us through the circumcision of

Christ according to Colossians 2:11), why would we want to live in it any longer? W hy would we still want

to run after the desires of our old sinful nature as though we haven’t been cleansed from it?

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we

who died to sin live any longer in it? For he who has died has been freed from sin. Therefore do not

let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members

as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the

dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion

over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (Rom 6:1-2, 7, 12-14 NKJV)

And here is how we do it: The more we try to sin less the more we will fail, because the power of sin is the

law and our inability to live up to its standards:

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. (1 Cor 15:56 NKJV)

It is in our own efforts of trying to be holy our greatest downfall awaits.

Our victory over the lusts of the flesh is to have our minds renewed, to have our thoughts transformed

to discern the truth of God’s W ord and spend time in His presence, allowing Him to romance and woo us.

W hen we begin to see how deeply His love runs for us, we will not be able to resist flowing in the fruit of

the Spirit inside us, showing love and compassion to a world that needs to see Jesus.

Lesson 29: Is God Angry with Unbelievers?

All people on the face of the earth that have not put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior are

guilty of the only sin that Jesus could not die for at the cross: Unbelief in Jesus.

However, contrary to popular belief, God is not angry with unbelievers for not accepting Him. At the

cross more than 2000 years ago the sin of the whole world was forgiven and God extended His grace and

kindness to all mankind:

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. (Tit 2:11 NKJV, emphasis added)

However a person has to put their faith in this grace to receive it.

God has already reconciled the entire world to Himself through Jesus and He has made provision for every

single person on the planet to be saved:

…that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to

them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (2 Cor 5:19 NKJV)

God has already allowed all punishment against sin to be poured out on the body of Jesus and has also

forgiven everybody’s sin, but people have to believe in Jesus to receive this forgiveness.

Currently God is not in the punishing business anymore. In these days God is extending His

goodness towards everybody on the planet (believers and unbelievers alike) because He wants them to see

that He is good and that He loves them. It is the goodness of God that leads people to repentance,

not a fear of punishment:

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the

goodness of God leads you to repentance? (Rom 2:4 NKJV)

That is why atheists and sinners are not our enemies, but our friends, because if God loves them then how

can we not? Our job is to show them the love of God, not judge them.

Continuing in Unbelief

However if by these people’s continued unbelief they willingly reject this offer of peace from God and in

the process trample the blood of Jesus underneath their feet, their hearts will all the while become more

and more hardened:

But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself

wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. (Rom 2:5 NKJV)

On that one single day of judgment and not years and years as some say (see Romans 2:5 above

again) these unbelievers will be judged for not believing in Jesus and they will have to face the

dreadful consequence of spending an eternity separated from God and not receiving forgiveness for their

sins, which is not God’s will for anybody on the earth, because God loves all people!

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to

come to the knowledge of the truth. (1Tim 2:3-4 NKJV, emphasis added)

Therefore since God loves unbelievers and wants all people to be saved, it is our mandate to extend

this same love to our unbelieving neighbors, especially since we are God’s hands and feet in the earth.

Most unbelievers have hearts that have grown very hard, not necessarily against God, but mostly

against Christians who have misrepresented God as being a harsh God who allows sickness, violence,

injustice and punishment to reign on the earth. And then on top of this, if an unbeliever wants to join the

church they now have to start obeying countless laws as well and they had better make sure they change

their lifestyle else they will be kicked out by the church or God will punish them. Come on, what kind of

person with a bit of common sense would want to sign up for that?

Let us therefore show them the kind of love that God showed us when we first came into Christ: Read Rom. 5:8.

None of us deserved it in the first place, why then should we try to make others feel that they have to

measure up to some perfect standard?

Lesson 30: Commands in the New Covenant

The Bible is not to be considered as a set of principles to try and live up to, neither are the commands

found under the New Covenant a set of orders to try and follow. By the same token though, they are also

not to be seen merely as suggestions either. No, the Word of God is forever true and filled with life and

power!

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to

the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and

intents of the heart. (Heb 4:12 NKJV)

However when we are given a command under the New Covenant (especially throughout books like

James and Peter), this is not for us to use as a measure of how obedient we are, because this would mean

that we are putting ourselves under law again and just calling it something else, namely a command. Instead

these books are to be seen as an example of what a Christian life can look like when people under the

power of God manifest the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. W hen we live a life of praise and delight

ourselves in the Lord, we are walking according to the Spirit (Romans 8:1) and we will automatically

execute the commandments and manifest the fruit of the Spirit.

Unlike the Old Covenant Law, commands under the New Covenant are not to be seen as a benchmark

to measure our performance against and neither can it earn us God’s blessings. A key revelation that we

as New Covenant believers need to have is that we have been made fully righteous and this forms the

basis of us receiving anything from God. There is nothing that we can do that will add even a single

ounce to this Godly righteousness that was imputed to us as a free gift.

It’s easy to misunderstand some of the verses in the book of James if we read them in the wrong context.

In the context of the New Covenant, which declares we have been saved by grace through faith

(Ephesians 2:8-9), as well as the fact that we can’t do anything to earn God’s blessings or approval, let’s

look at a few of these verses:

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (Jam 1:22 NKJV)

Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (Jam 2:17 NKJV)

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. (Jam 2:26 NKJV)

These verses are not supposed to condemn us and make us feel we have not been doing enough. In fact, if

any preacher ever tries to force believers into “doing more for God” by using manipulation, laying on guilt

or condemnation, they are actually trying to bring people back under the Old Covenant Law!

In the Flesh or in the Spirit?

Before we tackle the three James verses however, let’s quickly look at a commonly misunderstood principle:

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to

the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom 8:1 NKJV)

So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if

indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not

His. (Rom 8:8-9 NKJV, emphasis added)

When we are born again we are placed in Christ, but our conduct doesn’t necessarily portray our true

born again nature, which means we don’t necessarily do everything right 100% of the time. Yet there

is no condemnation, even if we don’t do everything right, because Jesus has already hit the bull’s eye for

us! W e are Christ’s and God is forever pleased with us.

The Old Covenant tried to deal with the outward behavior problem, with man’s sinful acts and godless

deeds. But under the New Covenant God changed our hearts (He dealt with the inward problem) and

when our hearts are changed, the good works will automatically follow. This is what the writer of Hebrews

meant when he quoted the prophet Jeremiah:

Heb 10:16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put

My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them.

First we have to believe correctly (that God loves us regardless of our performance and that we cannot earn

His approval) before we will start doing the right things. Right believing will lead to right living, but

simply living right in itself will not lead to right believing.

Back to the James verses, the writer is saying that if we are truly saved, there will be evidence of our faith

in the form of good works. But since our minds are not fully renewed, we sometimes mess up and neglect to

do the good works which God meant for us to walk in. But this is where the grace of God comes in: God

does not condemn or judge or punish us if we don’t do the works the writer of James talks about. He simply

keeps on loving us the same.

Not to take away any of the power of James’ words though. After all, what is the purpose of faith if it doesn’t

flow over into works? We can for example have faith that a beggar in the street should be helped by

somebody else, but do nothing about it ourselves. James’ writings explain what it looks like to have faith

in Jesus. But these are only the elementary principles. The apostle Paul then widens our perspective on

grace to demonstrate that we’re not saved by works and don’t live by them either - grace is what saved

us and grace is what keeps us saved. But works are the evidence of our faith.

Simply a New Law System?

The biggest difference between the Old Covenant Law and the commands found in the New Covenant

is this: To be accepted and blessed by God under the Old Covenant people had to obey the law. Under

the New Covenant we want to obey the commands because we are already blessed and accepted! We

cannot however devise the commands written in the New Covenant into a modern day rule keeping

system, because that would mean putting ourselves under a religious scheme again, something which

Paul warned against vehemently:

Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of

slavery on you. I am emphatic about this. The moment any one of you submits to circumcision or

any other rule-keeping system, at that same moment Christ's hard-won gift of freedom is squandered.

(Gal 5:1-2 MSG)

What we can do however is trust that the Spirit inside us will bring to completion the work that He started,

stop fretting about our imperfect conduct and enjoy the life of God in us and through us. Life truly finds

its purpose when we learn to simply let go and let God be Himself through us.

Lesson 31: Heavenly Treasures

(The purpose with this chapter is to encourage believers that our actions do in fact carry eternal

significance. It is however not an attempt to try and stir anybody up to begin operating out of their flesh to

try and earn rewards; nonetheless when we do good works through faith (or out of rest or through the Spirit),

they do carry the promise of eternal rewards. This is a principle that’s often overlooked and completely

ignored by most preachers of Grace. So this chapter is not to excite fleshly efforts - it is merely an

encouragement to those who thought that their works don’t matter).

What we believe determines where we will spend eternity (with God or separated from Him). What we do

determines how we will spend eternity (rich or poor). Yes, it is possible to be poor in heaven and even

though everybody in heaven will be happy, love each other and hold no envy or strife, some people will be

“richer” in heaven than other people (we’ll shortly discuss what it means to be “rich” in heaven).

Firstly let’s just settle this one point: If a person believes in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they will

go to heaven. This specific message is not about whether a believer will go to heaven or not, it

presupposes they will. This message is about receiving a reward for our works.

Firstly there is the group who claims that everybody will be equal in heaven and have all things in

common, saying that they don’t care about whether they will have lots of treasure in heaven or not, as long

as they get there. Although the first two statements may be partially true, there is definitely something wrong

with saying we don’t care about having treasure in heaven, as Jesus specifically taught us to store up

treasures for ourselves in heaven:

Do not lay up treasures on earth for yourselves, where moth and rust corrupt, and where thieves

break through and steal. But lay up treasures in Heaven for yourselves, where neither moth nor rust

corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. (Matthew 6:19-20 NKJV)

The New Covenant is full of passages that tell us we will be rewarded according to our works:

And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to each according as his work is.

(Rev 22:12 NKJV)

…each one's work shall be revealed. For the Day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire;

and the fire shall try each one's work as to what kind it is. If anyone's work which he built remains,

he shall receive a reward. If anyone's work shall be burned up, he shall suffer loss. But he shall be

saved, yet so as by fire. (1 Cor 3:13-15 NKJV, emphasis added)

These verses say we will receive a reward for our works, and if we didn’t do any works that are worth

a reward, we will suffer loss and only just make it to heaven ourselves. In fact, we’ll almost be able to smell

the smoke on our backsides, ha-ha!

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive the things

done through the body, according to that which he has done, whether good or bad. (2 Cor 5:10 NKJV)

Note that not all

“good works” will be rewarded. Good works done from a motive of trying to be

justified through them, or from any other motive other than faith, will be burnt up. But how then can we know

which of our good works will be rewarded? It’s all about the motive and no man can judge the motive of

another man’s heart.

For man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. (1 Sam 16:7 NKJV)

So what should our motive be?

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Cor 10:31)

We don’t store up treasures for ourselves to build our own empire or kingdom, but rather the Kingdom of

God.

The next obvious question is this: W hat is the “treasure” that the Bible talks about? If even the streets of

heaven will be paved with gold, of what use will an abundance of possessions be in heaven? The key lies

in the parable of the faithful servant. W hen the master came back and he found the servant had doubled

the five talents into ten talents, he was very pleased with him:

And so he who had received five talents came and brought another five talents, saying, Lord, you

delivered five talents to me. Behold, I have gained five talents above them. His lord said to him,

Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful over a few things; I will make you ruler

over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord. (Matt 25:20-21 NKJV)

Our reward in heaven for being faithful with what was appointed to us on earth is not possessions: it

is responsibility. We will be entrusted with more responsibility (also called “heavenly treasures” or “true

riches”) in heaven if we proved ourselves faithful here on the earth:

Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest

with very little will also be dishonest with much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the

unrighteous mammon, who will entrust the true riches to you? (Luk 16:10-11 NKJV, emphasis added)

After the second coming of our Lord, the saints will rule the earth with Him and those who were faithful during

their time on earth will be appointed in positions of higher authority:

Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? (1 Cor 6:2a NKJV)

And You made us kings and priests to our God, and we will reign over the earth. (Rev 5:10 NKJV)

And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole Heaven, shall be

given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and

all dominions shall serve and obey him. (Dan 7:27 NKJV)

And he who overcomes and keeps My works to the end, to him I will give power over the nations.

And he will rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter they will be broken to pieces, even

as I received from My Father. And I will give him the Morning Star. (Rev 2:26-28 NKJV)

Is eternity to be a time when those still living out physical lives on the earth will be kept in subjection by

a divine dictatorship? The verb translated “rule” in Revelation 2:27 is poimanei, derived from the word for

a shepherd (poimen). It is the same word used by the apostle Paul in Acts 20:28 to describe the care

that overseers are to show toward the Church of God. The rod or club carried by a shepherd was primarily

for the protection of his sheep, not to frighten or punish them.

To summarize, we’ve seen that what we believe will determine where we spend eternity; however

this doesn’t rid us of our responsibility to advance the Kingdom of God in the earth. The works we do and

more so our motive for doing these works, will determine how we will spend eternity in heaven. Works

that have been done out of a motive of trying to earn God’s approval will be burnt up, but works done with

the correct motive will cause us to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven, the treasure being the

privilege of being given more responsibility.

Very importantly, in closing, let’s look at what John Piper said about being judged according to our works:

“It is by grace we are saved through faith; not of ourselves, it is the gift of God. But the heart that is full of

faith will overflow in attitudes and actions very different from those which flow from unbelief. Therefore, our

deeds will testify truly to the genuineness or absence of faith, and it is not inconsistent for God to judge us

according to our works. But we must understand that this judgment according to works does not mean

we earn our salvation. Our deeds do not earn, they exhibit our salvation. Our deeds are not the merit of

our righteousness; they are the mark (proof) of our new life in Christ. Our deeds are not sufficient to

deserve God’s favor, but they do demonstrate our faith.

Please keep that distinction clear in your mind regarding our attitudes and actions: they do not earn,

they exhibit; they do not merit, they mark; they do not deserve, they demonstrate. And therefore, “God will

render to every man according to his deeds,” including Christians.”

Lesson 32: Walking After the Flesh (Unrenewed Mind)

Previously we concluded a two part series on why Christians still sometimes struggle with the works that the

law labels as

“sin”. Under the New Covenant however, all the sins

(past present and future) of a

believer have been forgiven:

I write to you little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake. (1 John 2:12)

…then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. (Heb 10:17 NKJV)

We concluded previously that Christians sometimes still make mistakes mainly because of two reasons,

namely because of an unrenewed mind and also because of external temptations. Our body will simply

yield itself as an instrument to whichever part we give control to:

1) To our 100% righteous born again spirit man, or

2) To the unrenewed part of our mind. If the mind is unrenewed, it will be at enmity (war) with our spirit.

The body will follow like a slave to whichever one of these two we yield control to.

If our mind has been renewed by the washing of the Word of God, we will use our body as an instrument of

righteousness. But if a person walks after the lusts of their unrenewed mind (flesh), their body will be a

slave to sin and reap the carnal (earthly) consequences of that sin. Yes earthly consequences, because

all the eternal punishment was dealt with at the cross.

Buckle up because here’s a radical statement: because New Covenant believers are no longer the law,

they can’t essentially break the law and therefore can technically speaking no longer commit “sin”, certainly

no sin that they can be judged or condemned for.

...for where there is no law, there is no transgression. (Rom 4:15b NKJV)

Actually they are not committing sins, but rather “works of the flesh”.

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness,

lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions,

dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries… (Gal 5:19-21 NKJV)

When believers and unbelievers mess up, we class their actions differently. Indulgence in immorality by

these two different groups can be described like this:

Believers: Works of the flesh (flesh = unrenewed part of the believer’s mind)

Unbelievers: Sins

This is not just word play, because an incorrect understanding about why a Christian still slips up from time

to time serves to contribute towards the misconception of believers seeing themselves being caught up in

the unbreakable grip of sin, whereas they have actually been set free from it through grace:

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (Rom 6:14 NKJV)

We can clearly see from the listed “works of the flesh” in Galatians 5 (above) that if a person were to

practice such things on a regular basis, they will very quickly not only estrange themselves from the people

who love them, but also ought to find themselves in jail when the local authorities and law systems catch up

with them for things like theft, murder, etc. (It’s interesting that the Bible lists hatred and jealousy up there

with murder).

When someone is punished like this by their local law system or scorned by the people around them for

misconduct, these are the earthly consequences for their actions which include the anger, condemnation and

resentment of the people they have harmed because unlike God, people have not yet forgiven us for all

our mistakes past, present and future. People aren’t as gracious as God and therefore when we harm

people and trespass against them, we need to confess to them and ask for their forgiveness.

Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed (Jam 5:16).

It’s well worth noting at this point that even though a believer that practices such things might at some

point face the music with people or with their local authorities, God will never resent them or stop loving

them, even when they commit the most horrendous thing. The grace of God has made provision enough to

cover even the biggest sin:

...But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. (Rom 5:20b NKJV)

Now someone might ask “But why would God still want to love such a person even if they have

committed these horrible things?” The answer is simply that once a person has been born again and they

are now in Christ:

But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God - and righteousness and

sanctification and redemption. (1 Cor 1:30 NKJV, emphasis added)

Because of this, the Father loves them the same as Christ. Nothing can ever separate them from God’s love.

God is not ignorant of our mistakes, but His indignation against the sinful condition of man was

fully appeased by the perfect sacrifice of His Son.

Trying to Live More “Holy”

Something that New Covenant believers should guard against, is trying in their own effort to “live more holy”.

Sanctification does not mean we try to stop doing this or that sin; sanctification simply means living from

our position in Christ. W hen we try to “become” more holy, we go back under the law and open up the

door for condemnation to come in when we make mistakes, making us aware of our own shortcomings

and robbing us again of our confidence before God. We will then not want to get to know God because we’d

feel too guilty to talk to Him.

The implication of this is that we will just have an ordinary life and live like practical atheists whose lives

are void of any of the power of our mighty God. We will continue to feed our unbelief and not have our

minds renewed and therefore we will not get to know God for who He really is: a kind and gracious Father

who is always poised towards blessing and prospering us beyond our wildest dreams.

Someone once said, “Just remember that when you go back and live under law as a saved believer, it

doesn’t mean you’ve lost your salvation, it just means you might only get to know God when you die, so

don’t blame Him for your powerless religious existence on earth while you refuse to get to know Him.”

Lesson 33: Will Obeying the Law Give Me Victory Over Sin?

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (Rom 6:14 NKJV)

The law controlled us and kept us under its power until the time came when we would have faith. In fact,

the law was supposed to be our teacher until we put our faith in Jesus. But now that we have put our

faith in Jesus, we don’t need this teacher (the law) anymore:

But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would

afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be

justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. (Gal 3: 23-25 NKJV)

The law demands that we live a perfectly holy life 100% of the time. Failure to comply will result

in punishment and death. These requirements will never change. The law is what it is and grace cannot

change the law’s mind. The only way to come out from under the law is to die to the law.

Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that

you may be married to another - to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to

God. (Rom 7:4 NKJV)

For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. (Gal 2:19 NKJV)

Trying to obey the law will only end up in breaking the law, because nobody on the face of the earth can

obey the law 100% of the time. Nobody ever could, except Jesus Christ. Grace also does not enable us to

keep the law. Rather grace enables us to live and feed from the life of God of which He has made us

partakers, filling us with His mighty Holy Spirit. Any good works that flow from us as a result of this is simply

a fruit of the Spirit inside us, so we really have nothing to boast about.

The Bible says the strength of sin is the law, because it is only through the law that we know what sin is. It is

the law that brought sin to life!

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known

sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You

shall not covet.” But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil

desire. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.

And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. (Rom 7:7-10 NKJV)

Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. (Rom 5:20a NKJV)

The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. (1 Cor 15:56 NKJV)

Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge

of sin. (Rom 3:20 NKJV)

But how then are we supposed to live in obedience? If we don’t have any standard to measure

our performance by, how can we know that we are really obeying God? The answer is simpler than we

may think: By simply believing in Jesus and the victory He has obtained for us.

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world -

our faith. (1 John 5:4 NKJV)

It is through faith that we please God, not by trying to live more holy:

But without faith it is impossible to please Him. (Heb 11:6a NKJV)

And the law is not of faith… (Gal 3:12a NKJV)

Combining these last two verses we see that we cannot please God by trying to live according to the law.

Now we may also ask: “What are we then supposed to do? Doesn’t God expect us to do something?” There

were some people that asked Jesus the exact same question:

Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and

said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent”. (John 6:28-29 NKJV)

Our faith is stirred when we spend time in the presence of God and have supernatural encounters with Him,

when we worship Him, when we experience the fulfillment of seeing heaven kiss earth, when we

receive revelation that renews our mind and when we hear Him speak to us:

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Rom 10:17 NKJV, emphasis added)

When we experience these things, a natural result will be victory over sin, good works and a holy lifestyle

motivated by love for God. That’s why it’s called the “fruit” of the Spirit.

Jesus Preached the Law

Jesus talked mostly about the law only to people who were heavily under the influence of the law. He was

not encouraging them to try and obey the law more; instead He was showing them that they were

hypocrites for teaching others to keep all the laws while they themselves could not do it either.

In Luke 18 a rich young ruler asked Jesus what he should do to inherit eternal life. This was the man’s first

mistake. He wanted to do something to inherit eternal life, believing he could earn it. Jesus, realizing that

this man was relying heavily on obeying the law for his salvation, answered him:

You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear

false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’’ And he [the rich young ruler] said, “All these

things I have kept from my youth.” So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack

one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven; and

come, follow Me.” But then he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. (Luke

18:20-23 NKJV, annotations added)

Jesus simply showed the man that however well he thought he may have been keeping the law, he would

always fall short. The law will always tell us that we have not done enough, that we need to accomplish

more; to be more holy and to perform better. Trying to obey the law will never give people victory over sin

- it will only show them how far they fall short. But praise be to God, there was one man who did it all on our

behalf: Jesus Christ!

Our key verse for this chapter implies that as long as we try to live under the law, sin will have dominion over

us.

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (Rom 6:14 NKJV)

However when we come out from under the law, realizing that there is now a better way to live, namely

by faith, we are enabled to achieve victory over all those bad habits and mistakes we kept on making while

living under the law. Now is that powerful or what?