LAWLESS Christianity |
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Bro. Mike Miller |
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Never has there been more pressure from everywhere to do away with the law of God. The attack is not coming from without, but from within the church. It seems the theme of the Gospel has now become, "We are not under the law, but under grace." That is the catch-all that explains and excuses all sin and unrighteousness in the church. Jesus Didn't Teach Lawlessness The Lord Jesus Christ never meant for us to understand from his words that the moral law was done away with, fulfilled, or annulled in any way, that is purely an invention of men. In the Sermon on the Mount He set the moral standard much higher than it had been understood in the written law. The sacrifices and the ceremonies contained in the law were fulfilled with the life, work, and death of Christ, and are therefore no longer necessary, because they were only a shadow and a figure of these things. The moral law is completely different, for it is not a shadow of things to come, but shows us the character of God. One of the basics of New Testament Christianity is that we are to be conformed to the image of the Son of God. When the law shows us what God is like, how disgraceful and outright deceitful it is to try to do away with it or make it of none effect while claiming to be a Christian! Sign of the End Times It is a sign of the end times. The Wicked One referred to in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 is understood to be the "lawless" one. It is the spirit of antichrist that wants to shake off the law and claim it has no place in the life of a Christian. It is the rebellious sinner who despises dominion, and especially from God. The person who has truly found Christ was brought to Christ by the law of God, for it was his schoolmaster. That person will LOVE the law of God, and will not look upon it as bondage and negative, but as sweet and wonderful. Those who don't know Christ will surely think differently. They say, "let us break his bands asunder and cast his chains from us. Jesus said that if we love him we will KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS, and his commandments are NOT grievous. And the Bible says in 1 John 2:4 - "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." Works of the law? "Well, we know we're not saved by works of the law!" That is the battle cry of so many in their effort to make the lost sinner see his need of a saviour. What he really needs to see is the peril he is in for disregarding the law of God. But that has become such a distasteful thing in this antichrist age that no one will preach that anymore. That is precisely why fewer and fewer are getting saved now. The problem is that no one stops to consider what "works" of the law are. They have mistakenly assumed that morality is a "work of the law." It is NOT. The book of Galatians deals with this very subject very clearly. The works of the law described and dealt with there are such things as circumcision. We have other Scriptures to prove that it has nothing to do with salvation, but it was an outward keeping of the law. If you want to teach people that they aren't saved by being circumcised, sacrificing lambs and burning incense, go ahead, but when you start telling them they don't have to pay any attention to the moral law of God, you have crossed over the line and are committing a grave error, which you will give account to God for. Don't lump the moral law of God in with what Christ fulfilled of the ceremonial law given to Israel. The blood of the souls who you mislead will be on your hands. The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. - Romans 7:12 For we know that the law is spiritual . . . - Romans 7:14 God is holy, his law is holy, and we are to be holy. Without holiness, no man will see God. Gripe and accuse and say that came from this or that denomination or that "sinless perfection" doctrine, but it is BIBLE, and God said it, and it is TRUE. The lawless, antichrist preacher who teaches that unholy people are going to heaven, and the law of God is irrelevant, is a deceiver and a liar, or he is too lazy to read his Bible and study to find out the truth, and he is just repeating what he hears all the BIG preachers preach. There are many who promote this heresy without really understanding how it is received in the minds and hearts of the people who hear it and base their salvation on it. "Not by works of the law." "We're not saved by keeping the law." They take it to mean that it makes no difference whether they are moral or not. They take it to mean that no matter what they do after they pray the sinner's prayer, they are going to heaven. Just always remember that any message or doctrine that makes it easier for men to sin is NOT OF GOD! That is exactly what is taught when you stress "not by works of the law" without teaching the full counsel of God and showing that it is not referring to the moral law. Jesus didn't come to set men free to sin all they want and not have a guilty conscience about it, He came to set men free from the power of sin, and sin is the willful transgression of the law. Love and the Law Anyone who preaches the law of God is labeled a legalist these days. People who spout off such nonsense are completely ignorant of the Bible, or else just plain wicked and deceitful in their hearts. ". . . love is the fulfilling of the law." - Romans 13:10 How about that? If you REALLY love your neighbor you will fulfill the law of God; that is, how can you love your neighbor without keeping the law of God. Moral laws are there to protect you and your neighbor. The first four of the Ten Commandments are concerning your actions and attitudes toward God. Number five talks about your parents. Then the last five are concerning your actions and attitudes toward your neighbor. Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not covet, thou shat not commit adultery, etc. are all to benefit your neighbor. Thou shalt have no other gods before me, thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy, are to keep your mind right concerning God. Jesus narrowed it down and simplified it for us to understand in an eggshell: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." But it's not necessary in our day, because we are NOT UNDER the law. Those who run around the country preaching this stuff ought to get out once in a while and face the results of their heresy. The churches, as well as the houses up and down the street are full of these "lawless" ones who have found a hiding place to continue on their road to hell and keep talking about how they are "saved by grace." They speak of love and accuse anyone who stands up for God's law of not loving. What arrogant hypocrisy! Love is the fulfillment of the law. And mark it down that no sinner will ever get saved apart from the spiritual, holy, just, law of God. It is what will bring him to Christ. Ever wonder why so many people in the churches act like lost people? It is because they ARE LOST. They have heard ANOTHER Gospel and received ANOTHER Jesus besides the One in the Bible. Jesus doesn't make a person lawless, but does quite the opposite, He brings them under control. The centurion in Luke 7:8 didn't see Jesus as lawless, rather he saw him as under the control of someone else. "For I also am a man set under authority . . .," The Bible also refers to giving him our "reins." Now say if you like that the Holy Spirit is our guide, and you will be correct, but the Holy Spirit NEVER contradicts the law of God. Yet there are actually people running around now claiming that the Holy Spirit told them to lie, cheat, leave their wife and get another woman, and all sorts of other things contrary to the law of God. Guess what their excuse is! You're right! Some preacher told them they weren't under the law, but under grace, and salvation is not by works of the law. Don't you stand amazed at how the Devil can even take a truth of God's Word and use it to damn souls? He can do that when the prophets of the Lord are light, treacherous persons who won't think twice about preaching some nice-sounding cliché they heard in a meeting somewhere without looking for themselves at what the Bible teaches. |
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