"Beware of dogs...." Philippians 3:2

Believers, by grace, examine what you are hearing in your local church and beware of preachers of a false doctrine. Consider 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!"

Christ would not have risen from the dead if our lifetime of sins had not been forgiven and we had not been declared righteous by God. His resurrection is akin to seeing someone who went to serve a death sentence in an impregnable prison for the crimes of another walking free. The wages of sin is death. One death for our entire lifetime of sins. Hebrews 9 tells us:

"27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. ..."

No matter how many times you sin in your entire lifetime, you can only die ONCE. Christ died that death ONCE for ALL. He died the death that the Law demanded of us, fulfilling every single demand that the Law made of us. Believer, Jesus is not going to come and die again or demand payment for sins that you might commit in the future. All of our lifetime of sins have been fully paid by Him. 

Also consider Hebrews 10:12- “But our High Priest offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then He sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.”

A single sacrifice for sins that avails forever. For all our sins- past, present and future. But like Peter who thought he had some good/strength in him to obey the Eighth Commandment - You shall not bear false witness... - churchgoers who deceive themselves into thinking that they can keep even a tittle of God's law by their human effort (arm of flesh) cannot accept this. They want to be partially or fully responsible for their salvation. They see it as "being good." 

But God sees putting even an atom of confidence in human strength as "exalts itself against the knowledge of God," like Peter who thought Christ was wrong when Christ told him about his then upcoming denials. Beloved, let's not be found here. God's word says "the arm of flesh (human effort) will fail." Never trust yourself. Trust Christ to save you from sin and death which is preceded by its symptoms of earthly ills such as anxiety, stupid mistakes, depression and sickness.

In Christ, our entire lifetime of sins have been wiped away with Christ's ONE sacrifice for sins. This is Grace- undeserved, unearned unmerited favour. Man's logic cannot comprehend God's saving Grace and how Grace is NOT "license to sin" -

"For the message of the cross is foolishness [absurd and illogical] to those who are perishing and spiritually dead [because they reject it], but to us who are being saved [by God’s grace] it is [the manifestation of] the power of God." 1 Corinthians 1:18 

Satan and his pastor agents prey on man's proclivity/tendency try to attain godliness (be like God) by human effort. From even church pulpits, such "pastors" are promoting that same seemingly good but actually deathly doctrine that Satan preached to Eve in Eden aka "You can be godly (be like God) by human effort at using the knowledge of good and evil aka the law." Beloved, by Grace, let's not fall for the same con. Only in Christ do we stand.

Many people think that God’s abundance of Grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ will make people go on sinning sprees, but the word of God whose ways and thoughts are higher than man's says differently in Romans 5:16–17:

“16 And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 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.”

So, is Christ crucified (all our sins- past, present and future- forgiven) and raised back to life (proving He had made us right with God) the foundation for everything that you are hearing in your local church? With every demand made of you, even the demand to overcome sins and addictions, is CHRIST presented to you as Saviour from sins or are you expected to go and "stop sinning" by yourself to get God to bless you and perhaps consider you for eternal life? Are you bogged down by sins and addictions and their consequences? The one teaching the message of Christ says that Christ will save you from your sins, as it is written in Matt. 1:21-

“She will give birth to a Son, and you shall name Him Jesus (The Lord is salvation), for He will save His people from their sins.”

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.  His way of saving, healing and delivering from Satan's oppression is the same as it was in the gospels. He never asked anyone to first go and fast or sow seed or asked whether they had sinned before He showed them His salvation. He never asked anyone for tithe card before they could enjoy God's freely-given blessings in Him. His salvation is without terms and conditions. He is Saviour, even Saviour from sins.

But preachers of a false doctrine never point you to Christ as Saviour from sins. Right from the pulpit, such throw Satan's fiery darts of accusations at the people e.g. -

"You are still fornicating/wearing wig/watching porn/not paying tithe/whatever....How can God bless you?"  

Beloved, these are the same sins that Christ came to save you and I from. But Satan's seemingly Holy ministers put the burden of your salvation, even salvation from sins, on you and not on Christ.

Such "ministers" condemn sinners for their sins (as if you just love to wallow in sin and are not trying hard to live right!) and say you have to save yourself from your sins or else God who sent His Son to save us from our sins will punish you for the same sins that He sent His Son came to save His people from!

Like the Pharisees did with the woman that was caught in adultery, such drag you to Jesus and tell you to expect wrath and judgment unless you save yourself. But Christ has none of these things for the helpless sinner who utterly looks to Him for salvation. He has only salvation. And His salvation is for the entirely helpless....

"For when the time was right, the Anointed One came and died to demonstrate His love for sinners who were entirely helpless, weak, and powerless to save themselves." Romans 5:6 

In reality, the above group covers all of mankind. See Christ's way with the utterly helpless woman caught in adultery and throughout the gospels. No amount of seeds, fast, vigil or promises to not do it again could have saved her from her situation or the death that she deserved. The law demands that wages of sin be paid for all ungodliness. No matter what she did, she would still die. Yet many of these "pastors" tell the flock to go and do all sorts to get God to save them from their deathly situations (earthly ills such as disease and lack are "death begun") as if those useless works can make any right with God or escape God's wrath. No friend, only through Christ are we made right with God and saved from death and its symptoms. See Romans 5:9-

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

God's Salvation (from acts of sin, sickness, lack, even physical death and the second death) is free and without terms and conditions for all who come to Christ; His saving you is not dependent on whether you sinned or paid your tithe but on His finished work. Only believe. John 3:16.

In a bid to discredit the gospel which is Grace and only Grace, false “men of God” say "righteousness by faith in Christ" is a license to sin and that we Grace children just want an excuse to continue to lead sinful lives. Their message goes along the line of: 

“Yes, you are saved by grace but you still have to keep the Ten Commandments as a guiding principle for morality so that you do not perish but have everlasting life.” 

These ones either do not yet know the severity of God's law so that they think they can keep even a tittle of it by human effort/arm of flesh or they are agents of Satan! How come some are agents of Satan? Telling people that they can be godly (be like God) by obeying the law is how to keep people under the dominion of sin, 

“For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under grace.” Romans 6:14. 

This is the same strategy that Satan deployed on Eve in the garden. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a picture of the law which gives the same knowledge. The letter kills, just like the eating from the tree. See the typology of the forbidden fruit as the law that many churchgoers are trying to keep in order to be godly (be like God) in Romans 7 (MSG version.)

Believer, see how much grace children “want to sin:” can you imagine having so much regard and awe for God's law that you feel guilty and condemned for the sin of erroneously responding with ‘12 o’ clock’ when it was really 12.02 after someone asked you for the time?

Can you imagine feeling great guilt for using hyperbole in a sentence, even when everyone understands that what you said is not to be taken literally, e.g. feeling condemned for saying "he spilled water all over the floor" when the water didn't really cover the entire floor?

That should give some insight into how much regard we grace children have for God’s law and how much we “want to sin.” The law is not bothered about why you sinned or whether it was a mistake or a little joke. Every sin/deviation from the mark of perfection will be punished to the uttermost. 

Before Grace found us, many of us had been trying so hard to fulfill the law so much that it brought us to the end of our tethers- no matter how hard we tried, we could not. This is the exact purpose of the law: to show everyone up as guilty before God. See this in Romans 3:19-20:

"19 Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. 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."

Also Galatians 3:19- "Why, then, the Law [what was its purpose]? It was added [after the promise to Abraham, to reveal to people their guilt] because of transgressions [that is, to make people conscious of the sinfulness of sin], ..."

Believer, let’s be for the law for the purpose for which it was given: the law was not given for us to keep in order to attain righteousness. The law was given to show how sinful we are.  

See the Spirit-inspired words of Paul, a former Pharisee of Pharisees who, before His encounter with Christ, "obeyed the Law without fault" according to Philippians 3. He counted all of his efforts at law-keeping (his righteousnesses) as DUNG (King James Version) so that he could gain Christ. See Philippians 3: 

"2 Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. 3 For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort, 4 though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!

5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. 6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.

7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with Him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with Himself depends on faith.”

Believers, “watch out for those dogs.” King James Version says “Beware of dogs...” Beware of the “people who do evil”; those who tell you to count on your own righteousness through obeying the law and not righteousness by faith through Christ. Isaiah 64:6 has a name for righteousnesses that proceed from keeping the law: filthy rags; “a menstrual rag” is the literal translation from the original Hebrew text-

"We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in Your sight."

This is the crux of the gospel— righteousness by by faith in Christ. This is right believing. Right Believing always produces Right Living.

In Christ, good works are not CONDITIONS for salvation; they are EVIDENCES of our salvation. Christ does it all. This is why we say: “It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me.”