August 21, 2019

Freedom by Gary Rose



There are those whose political views would condemn our founding fathers as being right wing extremists because they were God fearing, gun-toting patriots. In fact, there was absolutely nothing wrong with them. Real Christians are God-fearing, law abiding citizens who love their country and would only use firearms in defense of their lives or to hunt. Without these “extremists” we would still be under the rule of England. Christians love freedom, both earthly and spiritually. So did Jesus, for he died to set us free from the penalty of sin. Jesus said…



John 8 ( World English Bible )
  30  As he spoke these things, many believed in him.  31 Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed him, If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples.   32  You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 

  33  They answered him, “We are Abraham’s seed, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How do you say, You will be made free’ ?” 
  34  Jesus answered them, Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin.   35 A bondservant doesn’t live in the house forever. A son remains forever.   36  If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 


Just proclaiming someone is free doesn’t make them free. The signers of the constitution had to fight a war to procure their freedom. Likewise, Jesus had to die on the cross to give us our spiritual freedom. Christians have the two-fold blessing of this constitutional republic and the forgiveness that only Jesus Christ can provide. Be very thankful for both blessings!

Bible Reading August 21, 22 by Gary Rose


Bible Reading August 21, 22

World  English  Bible

Aug. 21
Job 20-23

Job 20:1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,
Job 20:2 "Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, even by reason of my haste that is in me.
Job 20:3 I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame. The spirit of my understanding answers me.
Job 20:4 Don't you know this from old time, since man was placed on earth,
Job 20:5 that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?
Job 20:6 Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds,
Job 20:7 yet he shall perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him shall say, 'Where is he?'
Job 20:8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found. Yes, he shall be chased away like a vision of the night.
Job 20:9 The eye which saw him shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more see him.
Job 20:10 His children shall seek the favor of the poor. His hands shall give back his wealth.
Job 20:11 His bones are full of his youth, but youth shall lie down with him in the dust.
Job 20:12 "Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue,
Job 20:13 though he spare it, and will not let it go, but keep it still within his mouth;
Job 20:14 yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him.
Job 20:15 He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again. God will cast them out of his belly.
Job 20:16 He shall suck cobra venom. The viper's tongue shall kill him.
Job 20:17 He shall not look at the rivers, the flowing streams of honey and butter.
Job 20:18 That for which he labored he shall restore, and shall not swallow it down. According to the substance that he has gotten, he shall not rejoice.
Job 20:19 For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.
Job 20:20 "Because he knew no quietness within him, he shall not save anything of that in which he delights.
Job 20:21 There was nothing left that he didn't devour, therefore his prosperity shall not endure.
Job 20:22 In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress shall overtake him. The hand of everyone who is in misery shall come on him.
Job 20:23 When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him. It will rain on him while he is eating.
Job 20:24 He shall flee from the iron weapon. The bronze arrow shall strike him through.
Job 20:25 He draws it forth, and it comes out of his body. Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver. Terrors are on him.
Job 20:26 All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire shall devour him. It shall consume that which is left in his tent.
Job 20:27 The heavens shall reveal his iniquity. The earth shall rise up against him.
Job 20:28 The increase of his house shall depart. They shall rush away in the day of his wrath.
Job 20:29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, the heritage appointed to him by God."

Job 21:1 Then Job answered,
Job 21:2 "Listen diligently to my speech. Let this be your consolation.
Job 21:3 Allow me, and I also will speak; After I have spoken, mock on.
Job 21:4 As for me, is my complaint to man? Why shouldn't I be impatient?
Job 21:5 Look at me, and be astonished. Lay your hand on your mouth.
Job 21:6 When I remember, I am troubled. Horror takes hold of my flesh.
Job 21:7 "Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?
Job 21:8 Their child is established with them in their sight, their offspring before their eyes.
Job 21:9 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.
Job 21:10 Their bulls breed without fail. Their cows calve, and don't miscarry.
Job 21:11 They send forth their little ones like a flock. Their children dance.
Job 21:12 They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
Job 21:13 They spend their days in prosperity. In an instant they go down to Sheol.
Job 21:14 They tell God, 'Depart from us, for we don't want to know about your ways.
Job 21:15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What profit should we have, if we pray to him?'
Job 21:16 Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
Job 21:17 "How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out, that their calamity comes on them, that God distributes sorrows in his anger?
Job 21:18 How often is it that they are as stubble before the wind, as chaff that the storm carries away?
Job 21:19 You say, 'God lays up his iniquity for his children.' Let him recompense it to himself, that he may know it.
Job 21:20 Let his own eyes see his destruction. Let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
Job 21:21 For what does he care for his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off?
Job 21:22 "Shall any teach God knowledge, seeing he judges those who are high?
Job 21:23 One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.
Job 21:24 His pails are full of milk. The marrow of his bones is moistened.
Job 21:25 Another dies in bitterness of soul, and never tastes of good.
Job 21:26 They lie down alike in the dust. The worm covers them.
Job 21:27 "Behold, I know your thoughts, the devices with which you would wrong me.
Job 21:28 For you say, 'Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?'
Job 21:29 Haven't you asked wayfaring men? Don't you know their evidences,
Job 21:30 that the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity, That they are led forth to the day of wrath?
Job 21:31 Who shall declare his way to his face? Who shall repay him what he has done?
Job 21:32 Yet he will be borne to the grave. Men shall keep watch over the tomb.
Job 21:33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him. All men shall draw after him, as there were innumerable before him.
Job 21:34 So how can you comfort me with nonsense, seeing that in your answers there remains only falsehood?"

Job 22:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
Job 22:2 "Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
Job 22:3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that you are righteous? Or does it benefit him, that you make your ways perfect?
Job 22:4 Is it for your piety that he reproves you, that he enters with you into judgment?
Job 22:5 Isn't your wickedness great? Neither is there any end to your iniquities.
Job 22:6 For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
Job 22:7 You haven't given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
Job 22:8 But as for the mighty man, he had the earth. The honorable man, he lived in it.
Job 22:9 You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
Job 22:10 Therefore snares are around you. Sudden fear troubles you,
Job 22:11 or darkness, so that you can not see, and floods of waters cover you.
Job 22:12 "Isn't God in the heights of heaven? See the height of the stars, how high they are!
Job 22:13 You say, 'What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness?
Job 22:14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn't see. He walks on the vault of the sky.'
Job 22:15 Will you keep the old way, which wicked men have trodden,
Job 22:16 who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream,
Job 22:17 who said to God, 'Depart from us;' and, 'What can the Almighty do for us?'
Job 22:18 Yet he filled their houses with good things, but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
Job 22:19 The righteous see it, and are glad. The innocent ridicule them,
Job 22:20 saying, 'Surely those who rose up against us are cut off. The fire has consumed the remnant of them.'
Job 22:21 "Acquaint yourself with him, now, and be at peace. Thereby good shall come to you.
Job 22:22 Please receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.
Job 22:23 If you return to the Almighty, you shall be built up, if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents.
Job 22:24 Lay your treasure in the dust, the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.
Job 22:25 The Almighty will be your treasure, and precious silver to you.
Job 22:26 For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and shall lift up your face to God.
Job 22:27 You shall make your prayer to him, and he will hear you. You shall pay your vows.
Job 22:28 You shall also decree a thing, and it shall be established to you. Light shall shine on your ways.
Job 22:29 When they cast down, you shall say, 'be lifted up.' He will save the humble person.
Job 22:30 He will even deliver him who is not innocent. Yes, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."

Job 23:1 Then Job answered,
Job 23:2 "Even today my complaint is rebellious. His hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.
Job 23:3 Oh that I knew where I might find him! That I might come even to his seat!
Job 23:4 I would set my cause in order before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
Job 23:5 I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would tell me.
Job 23:6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No, but he would listen to me.
Job 23:7 There the upright might reason with him, so I should be delivered forever from my judge.
Job 23:8 "If I go east, he is not there; if west, I can't find him;
Job 23:9 He works to the north, but I can't see him. He turns south, but I can't catch a glimpse of him.
Job 23:10 But he knows the way that I take. When he has tried me, I shall come forth like gold.
Job 23:11 My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way, and not turned aside.
Job 23:12 I haven't gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
Job 23:13 But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? What his soul desires, even that he does.
Job 23:14 For he performs that which is appointed for me. Many such things are with him.
Job 23:15 Therefore I am terrified at his presence. When I consider, I am afraid of him.
Job 23:16 For God has made my heart faint. The Almighty has terrified me.
Job 23:17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither did he cover the thick darkness from my face.

Aug. 22
Job 24-26

Job 24:1 "Why aren't times laid up by the Almighty? Why don't those who know him see his days?
Job 24:2 There are people who remove the landmarks. They violently take away flocks, and feed them.
Job 24:3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
Job 24:4 They turn the needy out of the way. The poor of the earth all hide themselves.
Job 24:5 Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, they go forth to their work, seeking diligently for food. The wilderness yields them bread for their children.
Job 24:6 They cut their provender in the field. They glean the vineyard of the wicked.
Job 24:7 They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.
Job 24:8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter.
Job 24:9 There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor,
Job 24:10 So that they go around naked without clothing. Being hungry, they carry the sheaves.
Job 24:11 They make oil within the walls of these men. They tread wine presses, and suffer thirst.
Job 24:12 From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, yet God doesn't regard the folly.
Job 24:13 "These are of those who rebel against the light. They don't know its ways, nor abide in its paths.
Job 24:14 The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. In the night he is like a thief.
Job 24:15 The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, 'No eye shall see me.' He disguises his face.
Job 24:16 In the dark they dig through houses. They shut themselves up in the daytime. They don't know the light.
Job 24:17 For the morning is to all of them like thick darkness, for they know the terrors of the thick darkness.
Job 24:18 "They are foam on the surface of the waters. Their portion is cursed in the earth. They don't turn into the way of the vineyards.
Job 24:19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters, so does Sheol those who have sinned.
Job 24:20 The womb shall forget him. The worm shall feed sweetly on him. He shall be no more remembered. Unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree.
Job 24:21 He devours the barren who don't bear. He shows no kindness to the widow.
Job 24:22 Yet God preserves the mighty by his power. He rises up who has no assurance of life.
Job 24:23 God gives them security, and they rest in it. His eyes are on their ways.
Job 24:24 They are exalted; yet a little while, and they are gone. Yes, they are brought low, they are taken out of the way as all others, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain.
Job 24:25 If it isn't so now, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?"

Job 25:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,
Job 25:2 "Dominion and fear are with him. He makes peace in his high places.
Job 25:3 Can his armies be counted? On whom does his light not arise?
Job 25:4 How then can man be just with God? Or how can he who is born of a woman be clean?
Job 25:5 Behold, even the moon has no brightness, and the stars are not pure in his sight;
Job 25:6 How much less man, who is a worm, the son of man, who is a worm!"

Job 26:1 Then Job answered,
Job 26:2 "How have you helped him who is without power! How have you saved the arm that has no strength!
Job 26:3 How have you counseled him who has no wisdom, and plentifully declared sound knowledge!
Job 26:4 To whom have you uttered words? Whose spirit came forth from you?
Job 26:5 "Those who are deceased tremble, those beneath the waters and all that live in them.
Job 26:6 Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.
Job 26:7 He stretches out the north over empty space, and hangs the earth on nothing.
Job 26:8 He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not burst under them.
Job 26:9 He encloses the face of his throne, and spreads his cloud on it.
Job 26:10 He has described a boundary on the surface of the waters, and to the confines of light and darkness.
Job 26:11 The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his rebuke.
Job 26:12 He stirs up the sea with his power, and by his understanding he strikes through Rahab.
Job 26:13 By his Spirit the heavens are garnished. His hand has pierced the swift serpent.
Job 26:14 Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways. How small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?"

Aug. 21
Romans 2

Rom 2:1 Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things.
Rom 2:2 We know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.
Rom 2:3 Do you think this, O man who judges those who practice such things, and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?
Rom 2:4 Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
Rom 2:5 But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God;
Rom 2:6 who "will pay back to everyone according to their works:"
Rom 2:7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory, honor, and incorruptibility, eternal life;
Rom 2:8 but to those who are self-seeking, and don't obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath and indignation,
Rom 2:9 oppression and anguish, on every soul of man who works evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Rom 2:10 But glory, honor, and peace go to every man who works good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Rom 2:11 For there is no partiality with God.
Rom 2:12 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.
Rom 2:13 For it isn't the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified
Rom 2:14 (for when Gentiles who don't have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves,
Rom 2:15 in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them)
Rom 2:16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Jesus Christ.
Rom 2:17 Indeed you bear the name of a Jew, and rest on the law, and glory in God,
Rom 2:18 and know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law,
Rom 2:19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,
Rom 2:20 a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babies, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth.
Rom 2:21 You therefore who teach another, don't you teach yourself? You who preach that a man shouldn't steal, do you steal?
Rom 2:22 You who say a man shouldn't commit adultery. Do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
Rom 2:23 You who glory in the law, through your disobedience of the law do you dishonor God?
Rom 2:24 For "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you," just as it is written.
Rom 2:25 For circumcision indeed profits, if you are a doer of the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
Rom 2:26 If therefore the uncircumcised keep the ordinances of the law, won't his uncircumcision be accounted as circumcision?
Rom 2:27 Won't the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfills the law, judge you, who with the letter and circumcision are a transgressor of the law?
Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh;
Rom 2:29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God.

Aug. 22
Romans 3

Rom 3:1 Then what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the profit of circumcision?
Rom 3:2 Much in every way! Because first of all, they were entrusted with the oracles of God.
Rom 3:3 For what if some were without faith? Will their lack of faith nullify the faithfulness of God?
Rom 3:4 May it never be! Yes, let God be found true, but every man a liar. As it is written, "That you might be justified in your words, and might prevail when you come into judgment."
Rom 3:5 But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what will we say? Is God unrighteous who inflicts wrath? I speak like men do.
Rom 3:6 May it never be! For then how will God judge the world?
Rom 3:7 For if the truth of God through my lie abounded to his glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?
Rom 3:8 Why not (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say), "Let us do evil, that good may come?" Those who say so are justly condemned.
Rom 3:9 What then? Are we better than they? No, in no way. For we previously warned both Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin.
Rom 3:10 As it is written, "There is no one righteous; no, not one.
Rom 3:11 There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God.
Rom 3:12 They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is no one who does good, no, not, so much as one."
Rom 3:13 "Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have used deceit." "The poison of vipers is under their lips;"
Rom 3:14 "Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness."
Rom 3:15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood.
Rom 3:16 Destruction and misery are in their ways.
Rom 3:17 The way of peace, they haven't known."
Rom 3:18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."
Rom 3:19 Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.
Rom 3:20 Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
Rom 3:21 But now apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, being testified by the law and the prophets;
Rom 3:22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all those who believe. For there is no distinction,
Rom 3:23 for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;
Rom 3:24 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus;
Rom 3:25 whom God set forth to be an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God's forbearance;
Rom 3:26 to demonstrate his righteousness at this present time; that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus.
Rom 3:27 Where then is the boasting? It is excluded. By what manner of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.
Rom 3:28 We maintain therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
Rom 3:29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Isn't he the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
Rom 3:30 since indeed there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith, and the uncircumcised through faith.
Rom 3:31 Do we then nullify the law through faith? May it never be! No, we establish the law.

Lawlessness causes love to grow cold by Roy Davison

http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Davison/Roy/Allen/1940/058-lawlessness.html

Lawlessness causes love to grow cold

Jesus said: “Because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12).
Lawlessness is rampant in the world. We can be thankful if we live in a county where the rule of law prevails and lawlessness is kept somewhat under control.
But Jesus is referring to lawlessness in the church! Persecution would come. “And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24:10-13).
This prediction has been fulfilled: many false prophets have arisen; they have deceived many; lawlessness does abound; and the love of many has grown cold.

What is lawlessness?
Lawlessness is a customary disregard of laws. A lawless person has little respect for law and refuses to be restricted by it.
We witnessed an annoying example of lawlessness when we visited Carlsbad Caverns in the United States. In front of us, a young woman, in her twenties, rubbed her hand on every cave formation she could reach, although, and probably because, a sign said not to touch the formations.
Although everyone has violated laws, not everyone is lawless in this sense.
A law-abiding person wants to obey the law, but sometimes falls short. Every driver, for example, exceeds the speed limit at times. A lawless person ignores the speed limit!

Why does lawlessness cause love to grow cold?
Jesus said: “Because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). And indeed the love of many has grown cold.
This is inevitable because lawlessness and love are not compatible. Lawlessness is a form of self-indulgence, and love is not self-indulgent. Love “does not seek its own” (1 Corinthians 13:5).

Lawlessness betrays a lack of love.
When Jesus was asked, “Which is the first commandment of all?” (Mark 12:28) He replied, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). By rejecting God’s law, a lawless person also rejects the love on which God’s law is based.

Lawlessness betrays a lack of love for God.
“The LORD is our Lawgiver” (Isaiah 33:22).
How can a lawless person (who scorns law) love the Lawgiver?
Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15) and “He who does not love Me does not keep My words” (John 14:24). John explained: “Whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him” (1 John 2:5). “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3).
God’s commandments are not burdensome for someone who loves God because he wants to please God.
To a lawless person, however, God’s commandments are burdensome, because he does not love God, has no desire to please Him, and dislikes restrictions that conflict with his own desires.

Lawlessness betrays a lack of love for man.
“Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10).
A lawless speeder lacks love for others on the road, lacks love for others in his car, and lacks love for those who love him.
God’s law is based on love. God has declared evil to be unlawful because it is harmful to man. God loves man and wants to protect him from harm.
A lawless person considers his own desires more important than the welfare of others.

Lawlessness results in immorality and evil practices.
“We know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for theungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers” (1 Timothy 1:8-10).
Someone who loves God and man concurs with God’s law and strives to live a godly life. He recognizes God’s law as good because it is based on love and protects man from evil.
The lawless person, however, rebels against God’s law because he does not have the love of God in his heart, he gives priority to his own desires, and has little concern for the welfare of others.

Lawlessness results in false religions.
One might suppose that religious people would not be lawless. But what did Jesus say to the religious leaders of His time? “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:27, 28).
Lawlessness leads, not only to immorality, but also to wrong religious practices. To these same religious people Jesus said: “Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men’” (Matthew 15:7-9).
Lawlessness results in worthless worship. Lawless religious people deceive themselves into thinking they are serving God when actually they are serving the lawless one. They are in the habit of serving God, not according to His word, but according to their own wishes.
Jesus warned: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
Thus, people who are very religious can reject God’s law to follow traditions, their own desires or the spirit of the times. Their zealous religious practices are lawless if they do not comply with the word of God.
There can even be lawless people in God’s kingdom. But on judgment day they will be removed. “The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire” (Matthew 13:41, 42).


Christ came to redeem us from lawless deeds.

“Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14).
Why is this redemption necessary? “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4).
Everyone has sinned (Romans 3:23). Thus everyone has committed lawless deeds, whether lawlessness is for him a way of life or something he strives to avoid.
Because Jesus “loved righteousness and hated lawlessness” (Hebrews 1:9), He allowed Himself to be crucified to redeem us from lawless deeds by paying the penalty for our sins.
To accept this grace we must give up our former lawless ways and serve Christ. “For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and oflawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness” (Romans 6:19).
Through baptism we are united with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ: “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law.
Law condemns everyone because no one keeps law perfectly (Galatians 3:10-12). “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’)” (Galatians 3:13).
Christians have been freed from “the law of sin and death” by “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:2).
“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” (Romans 8:3, 4).
Thus, as we strive to keep the law, we must understand that we cannot be saved by law-keeping, but only by the grace of God, which He extends to those who have a living, obedient faith, to those who walk according to the Spirit.
Christians serve God under the “law of Christ” (1 Corinthians 9:21; Galatians 6:2). They are guided and judged by “the law of liberty” (James 1:25; 2:12), a law in which “Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13).
The Christian’s freedom from the curse of the law, does not mean however that he may be lawless! “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not useliberty as an opportunity for the flesh” (Galatians 5:13).
Just as it is wrong to think that salvation can be earned by law-keeping - “You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace” (Galatians 5:4) - it is also wrong to “turn the grace of our God into licentiousness” (Jude 4 NASB), by thinking that salvation is possible by faith only (see James 2:24).

The Scriptures warn us about lawless influences.
We may not attach ourselves to lawless people. “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14).
Because of lawlessness, many Christians fall away. Paul wrote: “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped” (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4).
This great apostasy began at the close of the first century (1 John 2:18) and is called “the mystery of lawlessness” (2 Thessalonians 2:7). This apostasy still exists: the great majority of those who call themselves Christians, do not follow Christ.
Satan is behind these lawless influences: “Then the lawless one will be revealed.” ... “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:8, 9, 10 ESV).

We must resist lawless influences.

What have we learned?
“Because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). Lawlessness is contempt for law. Lawlessness displaces love. They who love Jesus keep His commandments. The lawless one rebels against God’s law. Many religious people are full of lawlessness. Their worship is worthless. Christ came that He might redeem us from lawless deeds and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

May our love for God’s law increase.
With the Psalmist let us say: “Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day” (Psalm 119:97). “Great peace have those who love Your law, and nothing causes them to stumble” (Psalm 119:165). Amen.

The Scripture quotations in this article are from
The New King James Version. ©1979,1980,1982,
Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers unless indicated otherwise.
Permission for reference use has been granted.

Published in The Old Paths Archive
(http://www.oldpaths.com)