Friends,
Throughout God’s Word we are commanded to obey God. This means we are commanded to turn from walking sin’s path to walking the path of holiness.

Jesus commands us to follow Him. This means we are to do what He says. –To do what He says at all times. We are not allowed to stray off the Path whenever we want, just as an employer does not allow his expectations to be disregarded, and just as a judge does not allow people to break the laws of the land. However, if anyone does sin, Jesus speaks to the Father in our defense. (1 John 2:1)

But what about blatant, willful, deliberate, purposeful neglect to do what God’s Word and God’s Spirit commands? Is God someone to be mocked? Are His instructions to be disregarded? Are His expectations and requirements to be ignored? How awful for the man who teaches that it is quite normal to neglect or rebel against God, the Boss, even while claiming to love Him, follow Him, and serve Him.

God has extended to everyone a pardon through the blood and sacrifice of Christ. Included in this, is the gift of the Holy Spirit by whose power we are able to live the rest of our lives free from sin. Yes, we are able. True, habits can be hard to break, but this is the Good News: We are no longer slaves to our habits! We have been given a means, a way, a strength, by which to take command over our bad habits and let the Spirit train us in new righteous habits.

The Spirit and the Word are our trainers in this new life –the new life of holiness. We too are our own trainers. (1 Tim. 4:7) And who else is to train us? It is anyone whom God gives. This could be a trial or a difficult person, but certainly it should be those who preach and teach God’s Word in our hearing. They should be training us and coaching us in holiness. Or so we would think.

Yet what is actually happening in “Christianity”? What is happening is that many “trainers” and “coaches” are doing the exact opposite of what God calls for them to do. For these men, instead of exhorting the sheep to obey the Lord continually, are teaching that to disobey the Lord is normal –even daily! And that anyone who insists that the faith-walk is anything different than frequent, or even continual, sinfulness, is to exhibit pride and ignorance.

In saying such things, these “Christian” teachers do not seem to see that they are resorting to the same argument that non-Christians use against them when they say, “Oh, you Christians are so prideful to think that your way is the only way to God. For there are many ways.”

No, it is not pride to remain confident about what we, after having sought and studied, firmly believe to be true. Is a doctor prideful when he firmly believes his patient has cancer and so states the fact? Is an astronomer prideful because he knows the distance of certain planets from earth? And after a person has come to the truth, must he go back and keep studying various falsehoods, just in case he really hasn’t come to the truth? Of course not. Once he is sure he has the truth, no more search is necessary, except to become an expert of that truth.

It is the same with us. Once we have diligently studied God’s Word, communed daily with Christ, and obeyed the Spirit’s guidance, then we can know the Truth. (John 8:31,32) And once we know the Truth, it will set us free. (v. 32) We will not listen to anyone who says that we can’t or don’t know the Truth or that we can’t or don’t walk in freedom. And if they are insisting that we listen to them rather than the Spirit of God, who is being prideful?

God’s Word commands obedience and it commands that we “be holy in all we do.” (See 1 Peter 1:15) In fact, as verse 14 says, it is by conforming to evil desires, that a person resorts to his past life of ignorance. “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” (1 Thes. 4:7) And as verse 8 says, “Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you His Holy Spirit.” In other words, these teachers who tell us we can allow ourselves to be impure, disobedient, and sinful, yet still inherit eternal life, are arguing with God, not us. For God says that His Spirit makes a person clean, holy, and able to walk free of sin. (Rom. 6:18 & 8:9 / Gal. 5:24 / 1 John 1:9 & 3:5-10 / etc.)

Jesus gives clear warning to such teachers: “But if anyone causes one of these little ones [that's any of His righteous sheep] who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matt. 18:6) For someone to have this said about them by Jesus does not include an invitation into Heaven! Talk about deceiving yourself! And who might such people be who entice others to sin? Many of them are those teachers who say we can love Jesus and inherit Heaven even while continuing to sin. Such a doctrine does promote sin!

“Therefore, this is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to remove you from the face of the earth… because you have preached rebellion against the LORD.’” (Jer. 28:16) This is exactly what these OSAS teachers are doing: Preaching rebellion against the Lord.

Sincerely,
with love,
Rachel

http://knowgodsword./