It's not by works of righteousness but by His grace ALONE

My family and I used to attend a church where the norm was keeping the Ten Commandments in order to be righteous before God (an impossible thing for any human to do according to Romans 3:20- 

"For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are." 

Plus the law does not grade on the curve. Break one and be guilty of all (James 2:10)

We were always breaking generational and other curses, even when Galatians 3:13 tells us "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law..." and generally believing that for the Lord our Shepherd to make us not lack, we needed to "play our part," usually by doing works of righteousness like sowing seed, attending deliverance sessions (no free indeed here) and doing our best to keep the law, even when Galatians 5:4 says "For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace."

Funny thing was there was this one song that was extremely popular among the congregation back then. No praise and worship session was complete without it:

It's not by works of righteousness but by His grace ALONE 

It's not by works of righteousness but by His grace ALONE 

It's not by works of righteousness but by His grace ALONE 

I am complete in Him.

Complete! Complete! Complete in Him. I am complete in Him

Complete! Complete! Complete in Him. I am complete in Him.

The song that we sang reflected that it is "by grace alone" that we are saved, in line with Ephesians 2:8-9: "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."

Salvation from death, hell, acts of sins, sickness, oppression, depression, barrenness, lack and every ill (salvation encompasses all) is by grace - undeserved, unmerited favour. BUT the preaching we heard from the pulpit told us the opposite: that it is by doing works of righteousness that the Lord our Shepherd would look the way of we His sheep and help us! This is not Christianity. This is not the Good News.

Beloved of God, by His grace, let us take our heads to church! Jesus did not call us His sheep and Himself our Shepherd just to fill up space in His word. The sheep is utterly helpless without its shepherd. Sheep also have the tendency of wandering away from the flock and getting themselves into impossible, "how on earth could I do this" situations. If a wandering sheep falls on its back (gets cast) no amount of struggling to be upright can right it. No amount of law-keeping can make anyone right with God. Devourers (Satan) eat the sheep alive in the cast position. Believers, a sheep can do nothing without the Shepherd; not even give or stop going astray (sinning!) Imagine a sheep trying to shear itself with razors in order to please the Shepherd. Christ does it all, including redeeming us from every lawless deed (Titus 2:14) so that we do not continue to live in sin. This is Grace.

Bear in mind that Grace is undeserved, unmerited favour. Cannot be earned. Cannot be deserved. The only disqualification for enjoying God's Grace (through which we have Christ's "Neither do I condemn you" that makes us "go and sin no more,") is for a person to believe that he can merit God's goodness and mercy by what he does or does not do.

The example of Peter has shown us what happens when we boast in our own strength and ability to do right. According to our Saviour Jesus, Satan asked for Peter to sift him like wheat...and he denied Christ....three times. The reason many who rely on their own righteousnesses are not committing certain sins is because Satan has yet to ask for them to sift them like wheat. If he does, the arm of flesh will fail. Sin has dominion over those who think that they can keep the law in order to be in God's good books.

But does this mean that we now have license to wallow in sin as many say of Grace? Certainly not! Believers, by God's grace, let's take our blessed brains to church🤗 Many who do not yet understand think that we Grace children just want to wallow sin. Nothing could be further from the truth. Like our Abba Father, we hate sin. Grace is the power of God over sin in our lives. Romans 6:14 says:

"For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace."

But somehow, many in the church have it backwards thinking Grace is what will make one go on sinning sprees and forget about Jesus, Grace personified! Not so! Romans 5:19 says: "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

From the above verse, we see that acts of sin is not what make people sinners. People are made sinners because of Adam's sin. Acts of sin are products of having the sinner nature inherited from Adam. Sinners sin. No matter how many good things a sinner does, without forsaking his own righteousnesses and receiving that which is given as a gift to all who believe Christ, he can never be righteous. The end is death.

By the same token, acts of righteousness cannot make people righteous. Even people who are not believers do their best to do only good things. People are made righteous by "one Man's obedience," Christ's, when they believe that God "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. Romans 5:17 says:

"For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ."

If one is trying to keep the law and is doing "good things" in order to get right with God, that one has the old (sin) nature that was inherited from Adam by all mankind. That one has rejected the gift of righteousness that Christ died that we might have, and this is the result according to Romans 7:5- 

"When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death."

This is what the law does when one tries to keep it in order to be in God's good books: it arouses evil desires...the letter kills.

Also, 1 Corinthians 15:56 says "...the strength of sin is the law."

When one believes in keeping the law and being good in order to gain favour from God, sin strengthens its grip over that one's life. Christ died to make us right with God so thinking that our own good deeds is what makes us right with God is denying the finished work of Christ and its efficacy! This is unbelief.

But when you believe that you are made righteous by the obedience of Christ (Romans 5:19) and not your own obedience, you no longer have the old nature. You are dead to the law. Old things have passed away. No more curse. You are a New Creation in Christ Jesus. And this is the result according to Romans 7:4-

"So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the One who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God."

Only with Christ as our righteousness can we produce a harvest of good deeds for God.

Grace is undeserved, unmerited favour. If one iota of our strength is in it, it is no longer Grace (Romans 11:6,) and only by grace through faith are we saved, so we have nothing to boast of in ourselves (Ephesians 2:8-9,) not our own fasts, self-discipline, giving, morality, evangelism, dedication or right-living prowess. With the Lord as our righteousness, "all these things shall be added unto you." We get to be transformed to the image of His glory, from glory to glory, through no effort of ours. We get to love proclaiming Jesus.

Believers, don't be deceived by anti-Christ pastors who downplay the perfect, finished work of Christ in saving you and highlight your own giving and performance of the Ten Commandments as the measure of your right-standing with God and your ability to receive from Him. Romans 3:20 says

"For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are."

Going by human wisdom, it seems un-commonsensical to believe that one can be 100% acceptable to God, pleasing to Him and also get to live right and reign in life (including reign over sins and addictions) by simply believing Jesus (believing His finished work of our salvation,) all without human effort. See 1 Corinthians 1:18-21

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;

the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age?Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe."

Mixing law and grace (thinking "I've done my best; Jesus will understand and do the rest) is to be "neither cold nor hot" and is an abomination to our Lord Jesus Christ. Under Law, you have to keep ALL of the law in order to enjoy God's blessings and escape the curse. See Deut. 28. Under Grace, the law is fulfilled in us but not by us. We get to enjoy our Abba Father's blessings and favour that we do not deserve and live right too. This is Grace- undeserved, unmerited favour. It angers the self-righteous who think that they are "not that bad" and lifts up the lost, the last and the least!

The Holy Spirit will teach you all things.

Believe Right and you will Live Right!