Right Believing in Jesus Christ is the Root. Right Living is the Fruit.

Beloved of God, being under Grace does not mean sitting idly and doing no good work as antichrist pastors would have you believe. In fact, doing good works is our passion under Grace. Christ Himself is Grace-personified. Titus 2:11 says of Him- 

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

Under Grace, we get to bear "much fruit" and are transformed to being committed to doing good deeds. See this and more in verse 14 of the same Titus 2-

"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

For all the good works that we get to do under Grace, we put no confidence in our own will-power or human effort (arm of flesh) to achieve anything at all. Many of us who are under Grace went through God our Father's training where He showed us the futility of trusting in our own ability to live right, just as Peter did as it is written in the account of his denial of Christ. 

Peter knew 100% that he would never deny Christ (8th Commandment about bearing false witness) and that he would follow Christ to prison and to death- just as many of us today look at ourselves and just know that there are some sins that we will never commit. This is dangerous ground and the height of pride and foolishness- to say that "I can never do that" without adding "only by God's God's Grace" to it. His word counsels us in Proverbs 16:18- 

"Your boast becomes a prophecy of a future failure.

The higher you lift up yourself in pride,

the harder you’ll fall in disgrace."

Like Peter when Christ told him of his then upcoming denials, many think that God must be wrong about His word in Romans 7:18 as was Paul's experience-

"For I know that nothing good lives within the flesh of my fallen humanity. The longings to do what is right are within me, but will-power is not enough to accomplish it."

God's word says human effort (the arm of flesh) will fail, is powerless and cannot. But Pride in the arm of flesh (human effort at obedience) that will fail says:

"No, I can. God must be wrong. I still have some good in me. I can keep the law, produce good works and resist temptation to commit sin by my will-power and sheer determination. Other people are just lazy but I am hard-working and can never do that.”

Reminds one of Peter telling Jesus that He was wrong when He told him of his upcoming denials:) What we have of ourselves is good intentions. For those who depend on their human effort at obedience or law-keeping prowess as false preachers teach the flock to do, these good intentions are subject to "Time and Chance" and Satan's temptations. No matter how hard a weightlifter trains or his level of passion and dedication, he cannot carry more than he can carry. So what do you do when your will-power to live right and obey can only manage a weight of 50kg but Time and Chance or Satan decide to blindside you with a crushing 100 tonne weight? What does an ant do when you are about to crush it? Remember many challenges of life do not give notification before visiting. 

Plus Law and Grace don't mix. One is either saved by Grace through Faith or not saved at all. The Law is not of Faith- there is nothing like - "At least people should try and keep the Law to be godly as best as they can so that God will see that they have tried their best to be righteous and do the rest by Grace" - nothing like this in the story of our salvation in Christ. This evil doctrine is from Satan and is designed to cut one off from Christ- Galatians 5:4-

"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." 

Beloved of God, the potential to commit heinous crimes is in everybody. God sees this potential and how favourable circumstances can make some people think that some sins are beneath them or that they can keep the Law and live a godly life by human striving. Peter thought so too, until his circumstances changed.

In Christ who is Grace-personified, our utter trust and confidence is in Christ. By His grace, we put absolutely no confidence in our puny human effort or will-power (arm of flesh that will fail) to achieve anything at all or to get anything from God of whom Romans 8:32 says-

"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?"

FREELY we are saved from our sins, lack, fears, sickness and even troubles of our own making. FREELY we enjoy our heavenly Father's training/discipline and correction which Hebrews 12 tells us is for us to live, for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness (we have none of ours) and that we might bear the peaceable fruit of righteousness. 

This why it is difficult for a believer in Christ to boast about how God blessed her with a jet because she sowed her car. For we who believe, our obedience, giving, good works - the fruits of the Spirit that we get to bear - are the "much fruit" that we get to bear in Christ by virtue of being branches of Christ the Vine- John 15:5-

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."

See The Passion Translation: "I am the sprouting vine and you’re My branches. As you live in union with Me as your source, fruitfulness will stream from within you—but when you live separated from Me you are powerless."

According to those who misunderstand or deliberately twist the gospel of Christ, the branch has to deploy human effort (arm of flesh) to producing fruit by itself in order to become a part of the Vine. This is impossible and this is the wild goose chase that many pastors lead their congregation on. There is no rest here. Just things to do to escape Satan and more things to do to escape Satan. 

For all who believe in Jesus Christ, Right Believing (utter trust in and dependence on Jesus Christ) is the ROOT. Right Living is the FRUIT. We see this by Grace. Christ gets all the glory. Without Him, we can do nothing. The best part is He rewards us abundantly for the good works that He did in, through and for us. Like Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, we get to do much more, yet not us but Christ in us-

9"For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me."

God's grace is "in vain" (wasted) on those who hear the message of the cross (righteousness by faith in Christ) and refuse to take advantage of His Grace (undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour,) choosing instead to pridefully rely on their human effort (arm of flesh) at keeping the law and doing its works in order to get right with God, earn His freely-given blessings, live a godly life and inherit eternal life. See this in Galatians 2:21-

"I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”

See the New Living Translation: "I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die."

God's blessings and direction are so supernaturally natural in our lives that we think we did good all by ourselves. Believer, let's not keep on striking the Rock (human effort at obtaining God's blessings) when all we need to do is speak to the Rock - Jesus Christ who, because God so loved us, was struck by God with the penalty of our sins and died our death so that we might have His righteousness, eternal salvation and every gift of God freely in Him.

God wants us to see how utterly helpless to obey we are of ourselves. But Satan appeals to pride in man and makes man think of himself as something when he is nothing and can do nothing of himself. Believer, by Grace, let's not be found here. Never rely on what you think you know. Trust in Christ with all your heart.

True believers do not want to sin. We also know that of ourselves, there is no good in anyone — nobody can keep a jot of the Law by human effort. By God's Grace, we know that the reason why we are not committing particular sins is because God did not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear. This is evident in 1 Corinthians 10:12-13:

"12 So beware if you think it could never happen to you, lest your pride becomes your downfall. 13 We all experience times of testing, which is normal for every human being. But God will be faithful to you. He will screen and filter the severity, nature, and timing of every test or trial you face so that you can bear it. And each test is an opportunity to trust Him more, for along with every trial God has provided for you a way of escape that will bring you out of it victoriously."

If God was not sceening and filtering our temptations/trials, we would all see the extent of the sinfulness of human nature expressed in ourselves. Paul addressed this in Romans 1 where a group who “suppress the truth” of righteousness by faith (verses 16-19) DEVOLVED into sin after “God lifted off His restraining hand…” —

“24 This is why God lifted off His restraining hand and let them have full expression of their sinful and shameful desires…”

If God lifted off His restraining hand that restrains us from devolving into committing heinous sins and let us rely on our human effort and will-power at keeping the law in order to be saved or for whatever reason, we would all devolve into sin. Like Peter who was resolute in his determination to not deny Christ, if temptation comes and it was up to us to save ourselves, we will all do the very things we swore not to do and copiously too, because the arm of flesh will fail.

The faster every believer realises that we would all be wallowing in sins were it not for God's Grace in our lives, the better. Depending on human effort/will-power at keeping the law and abstaining from sins gives Satan the opportunity to sift a person like wheat as he did Peter. Failure is the result for anyone who goes about trusting in his own will-power to stand or do good works. But not so with Christ of whom it is written in Titus 2:14-

"He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

Right Believing in Jesus Christ is the Root. Right Living is the Fruit.