Believer, God is not out to get you for your sins!

Believer, we escape God's wrath and inherit eternal life not by right-doing but by right-believing in Jesus Christ- believing that in Christ, all of our sins-past, present and future- have been forgiven (Hebrews 10:12); that in Him we have everlasting righteousness apart from works (Romans 5:19) and that we have eternal life through Him (John 3:16.) This is the message of the cross: Grace- undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour.

But does this mean that we can now go on sinning sprees, since we are made righteous by Christ's obedience and not our own puny efforts at keeping the Ten Commandments? Certainly not! Right Living can only come about through Right Believing. Paul too was falsely accused of preaching that it is okay to sin because we have grace. See this in Romans 3:8-

"And some people even slander us by claiming that we say, “The more we sin, the better it is!” Those who say such things deserve to be condemned."

Count yourself blessed and in good company if people have falsely accused you thus too!

Those self-righteous people (righteous by self-effort at law-keeping) who make this false accusation that Grace is a license to sin and teach human effort at obeying the law to get right with God believe that everybody (except themselves) is just looking for an excuse to wallow in sins. But many sinners are trying hard to stop. These beloved of God who are struggling with sins and addictions go to church and are given more laws to keep and more terms and conditions to meet by human effort in order to receive from God who gives us ALL things FREELY with Christ! See Romans 8:32-

"He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"

Imagine telling a believer who is looking to be blessed with children that God is not answering her prayers because of some sin in her life or because she has not been paying her tithe! This is akin to kicking a person who is down or placing additional burdens on a person who is already heavy-laden. And so sin has dominion in their lives, "For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under Grace." Try to obey the law or do good things to get right with God or get from Him and sin will multiply.

Check out Christ the gospels. He has no Ten Commandments burden to place on anybody that comes to Him for salvation. From the woman caught in adultery who was about to be stoned to death for her sin to Zacchaeus the thieving tax collector, He never asked anyone that He gave salvation from their problems to first go and fast or pay tithe before they could receive from Him. He never asked beneficiaries of His grace whether they had been obeying the Ten Commandments before saving them. He has not and will never change. His Salvation (from sins, lack, sickness, whatever) are without terms and conditions; FREELY given.

Jesus Christ the Great Physician is not in the business of telling sick people (sinners) to first go and heal themselves before He gives them an audience with Himself to save/heal them. See His way in Mark 2-

16 "And the scribes [belonging to the party] of the Pharisees, when they saw that He was eating with [those definitely known to be especially wicked] sinners and tax collectors, said to His disciples, Why does He eat and drink with tax collectors and [notorious] sinners?17 And when Jesus heard it, He said to them, Those who are strong and well have no need of a physician, but those who are weak and sick; I came not to call the righteous ones to repentance, but sinners (the erring ones and all those not free from sin)."

These "notorious sinners" above are called "non-observant Jews" in the Amplified Version; these were Jews who came short of the law of Moses, not paying tithes as required by the law, etc! Jesus wined and dined with them, as He still does with sinners today! Jesus came to free all who come to Him from sin!

But in many places of worship today, we hear the opposite preached e.g. "go and stop the bad things you are doing and sow seed so that God consider giving you an audience and maybe bless you." As if you had not been doing your best to stop...and failing! Always on the lookout for sinners to accuse like the Accuser and pointing such to self for salvation; never Christ. Believer, beware of such. With Christ, we don't GIVE to GET; we GET to GIVE.

The law-hugging Pharisees and teachers of religious law who depended on their obedience to the law to be right with God could not receive from Him. Same with those who depend on their own obedience today, "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." Galatians 5:4.

Believer, believe right. God is not out to get you for your sins. He sent His own Son, Jesus Christ Who is Grace-personified, to save us from our sins. Jesus Christ Himself is Grace. Titus 2:11 (TPT) says of Him:

"God’s marvelous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone."

Grace cannot cause you to sin. Grace saves from sins according to Matt. 1:21- "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Come to Him with all of your baggage of sins and addictions expecting to be made whole. This is faith. Only two people do the gospels describe as having great faith: the Roman centurion with the sick servant and the Syrophoenician woman with the severely demon-possessed daughter. Notice one thing they had in common? They were both non-Jews. They were not trying to obey the Ten Commandments to get right with God. They came to Christ empty of works of the law. They came helpless of themselves and believing that He would save them from their troubles without terms and conditions. They were not self-conscious, sin-conscious or law-conscious. They were only Christ-conscious. This is great faith.

The law is not of faith. Trying to obey the law in order to get right with God and to receive from Him is being faithless and without faith, it is impossible to please God.

Believer, are you labouring hard under works of the law and weary from doing them in order to get from God? Are you burdened and heavy-laden by its demands? Christ says to you today in Matthew 28:11-

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

By grace, let go of your efforts at getting God's acceptance. Only in the Beloved (Christ) are we accepted (Ephesians 1:6.) Believe Romans 4:25-

"Jesus was handed over to be crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and was raised back to life to prove that He had made us right with God."

In Christ, we stand not in our own righteousness but His. We have none of ours, "As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;"" Romans 3:10. All of our law-keeping and the good things we do are like "a menstrual rag" in His sight according to Isaiah 64:6.

Because of the gift of righteousness that Christ died that we might have, God sees us as righteous through and through, EVEN WHEN WE SIN, which all believers do from time to time. of ourselves, we are not perfect. Christ is our perfection. We can never lose this blood-bought right-standing with God that we have in Christ. This is where religious, Ten Commandments-toting, Pharisee-type churchgoers lose it. Such depend on their own human effort-acquired righteousnesses aka self-righteousness from doing works of the law aka "a menstrual rag" to save them. But sin has dominion over such: "For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under Grace." Romans 6:14. Try to boey the law to get right wit h God and sin will multiply. This is why the proliferation of churches in Nigeria does not translate into less corruption or right living. A watered-down version of the law is being preached so sin has dominion.

In God's eyes, the difference between the righteous and the wicked is not what we do or do not do. It is how we are made righteous: by human effort at obeying the law or by Christ's obedience. We know that human effort at obedience is "like a menstrual rag" in His sight; it is useless. See 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."

Romans 5:19 says- "By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

This is the only brand of righteousness that suffices for God the Righteous. Anyone who rejects it is "the wicked."

The difference between we who have Christ as our righteousness and those who do not is in Proverbs 4:

18"The path of the righteous is like the morning sun,

shining ever brighter till the full light of day.

19 But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness;

they do not know what makes them stumble."

In Christ (not under law but under grace) we do not continue to live in sin. Sin has lost its dominion over us. Remember there is none righteous, no not one. We are righteous with His righteousness. Our path gets brighter and brighter.... He saves His people from their sins. Matthew 1:21.

In Christ, we don't HAVE TO live right; we GET TO live right.

Believe Right and you will Live Right.