Author: Don Gerrity

If you believe on the atonement for sins by the only begotten Son Of God, Jesus Christ, who took our punishment for sin on the cross, died and rose again, then you are what is known as born again from above in The Spirit and eternally saved. Now some believe that from the time of salvation that we are supposed to sin no more and obey the Ten Commandments or we could lose our salvation. This is not a biblical teaching though and it is important to understand that once forgiven, you have come under God’s grace and you are no longer held accountable under The Law of Moses which has 613 laws including the Ten Commandments. In the book of Romans 5, the Apostle Paul made this very clear:

“Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:20-21 KJV)

Paul is saying that the Ten Commandments were given to man so that sins might increase! That is not what many are teaching today is it? I remember very well that high school religion taught me just the opposite of this. In fact, I would say that many in this age, even Christians, believe something very different. So what’s up? What is the truth about the Law and the Grace provided to us through Jesus Christ?

Do we first need to keep the 10 commandments and then God will forgive us ? Or did Jesus pay our sin debt in full? You cannot have it both ways. You cannot mix the Old Covenant of Law with the new covenant of Grace through Christ crucified. Jesus Himself spoke of doing such. Jesus paid it ALL for us. Since the time of Moses and up until the time of Jesus (and yes even until today) the Jewish people have added many other rules and regulations to the Ten Commandments. One such law was regarding fasting as we see in Matthew 9, when Jesus was asked, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”  Jesus’ reply shows clearly that Jesus has come to take away the sins of the world and that there is a NEW covenant that overrules the Old covenant and the results of the Law given to Moses:

“Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?  And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bride chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.  No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse. Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.” (Matthew 9:14-17 KJV)

“For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17 KJV)

The law given to Moses is the Ten Commandments. No one has ever kept all of the Ten Commandments (except Jesus, the Christ). That is why the Jewish people sacrificed animals without blemish as a temporary covering of the sins of the people each year. It was a foreshadowing of when the Messiah would come and be the final sacrifice for all humankind. We see this truth in Hebrews 9 and 10. So power packed with truth.

“For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He TAKETH AWAY THE FIRST, THAT HE MAY ESTABLISH THE SECOND. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ ONCE FOR ALL. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” (Hebrews 10:1-14 KJV)

When Christ who knew no sin, became sin for us and died in our place (2 Cor. 5:21) , taking the penalty of the sins of the whole world from all of time (past/present/future) upon Himself (1 John 2:2) by the shedding of His blood, Jesus ‘taketh away the first’ Covenant of Law and ‘established the second’ Covenant of the Grace of God Through Christ Crucified. This New Covenant that we current are living under from the cross until today (The Church Age) is what the Old Testament believers looked forward to happening. The Messiah had come as foretold, as foreshadowed in their annual, year after year, animal sacrifices as a temporary covering of their sins. For Old Testament saints, it was their belief in the Messiah and Christ who would one day come and be the final blood atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. In their BELIEF of this, they offered animal sacrifices without blemish as a remembrance of their sins and hope in the promise of Messiah one day coming in fulfilment.

Two thousand years ago Jesus came and took upon Himself the punishment for the sins of every person from all of time and until this very day. It is a gift from God; A free gift. As a gift, it can be accepted or rejected but it can never be earned. It is God’s grace upon those that receive Christ as personal savior and Lord. Jesus made this crystal clear in John 3 when a chief Pharisee leader asked Him directly how a person is righteous with God. Nicodemus seen the miracles Jesus performed. He heard how Jesus taught with an authority and knowledge of the Torah (what we refer to today as the Old Testament). He was perplexed because Jesus was teaching against works of the Law for righteousness, which the Pharisee rulers believed and lived by. Nicodemus was so perplexed and confused that he went to see Jesus personally, under cover of the night so that the other Pharisee leaders would not know.

“Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.” (John 3:2 KJV)

Jesus knew of his anguish as the Holy Spirit was trying to reach Nicodemus with the knowledge of the truth and replied,

“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” (John 3: 3-7 KJV)

Every person who is born of the Spirit is an eternally saved person. In the clearest passage of Jesus in basically answering, ‘What must I do to be saved?’, Jesus then goes on to tell Nicodemus how to be saved,

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:14-18 KJV)

Jesus was asked directly and He answered very directly and simply. Yet, do we see the words to follow the Law? No. How about having good works? No.  What do we see in Jesus’ words in answering the question? BELIEVE. BELIEVE. BELIEVE on Jesus as Messiah. And Nicodemus knew the Messiah is the foretold one who would come and be the final sacrifice for the sins of the world. Jesus was asked  directly, would He not have told Nicodemus if works of the Law were a requirement for salvation? Yet, Jesus did not. Later in John 6:37-40 Jesus was asked again and His answer was the same, BELIEVE ON Jesus as Messiah.

The Sin Mirror

The Ten Commandments are a mirror that when we look at it, we recognize our sin against a Holy God.

“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall NO FLESH BE JUSTIFIED in his sight: for by the law is the KNOWLEDGE OF SIN.” (Romans 3:20 KJV)

It is interesting to note that the first miracle performed by Moses was turning water into blood, thus causing death to people. But the first miracle mentioned in Scriptures by Jesus is at the wedding in Canaan when He turned water into wine, during a wedding celebration: a celebration of new life. It is no coincidence! Today, we are under the New Covenant whereby Jesus took our sin punishment and on the cross and cried out “It is finished!”. We are now under the NEW covenant of God’s grace, an undeserved and unmerited favor. It is nothing that we deserved or that we have because of our good works. It is 100% God’s free gift to us. It’s His loving grace.

The New Covenant Replaced The Old Covenant

I see many believers today and pulpits teaching that we are still to be under the Ten Commandments. That we should be obeying them and that God did not ‘do away with them’ when Christ came. From the perspective that the Ten Commandments are God’s absolute truth and are Holy, they are correct but they are missing the point. The Law is dead to the Christian because it is all about how  the source has changed. What do I mean by that? Let’s look at a few Scriptures and then you will see it more clearly:

“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that NO MAN IS JUSTIFIED BY THE LAW in the sight of God, it is evident: for, THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH. AND THE LAW IS NOT OF FAITH: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:” (Galatians 3:10-13 KJV)

In this passage of Scripture we see that there has been a change when the New Covenant came into effect. The just (believers) are to now live by faith with the Holy Spirit indwelling as our source. Jesus Christ is now become our source and God lives within us now as the comforter and Holy Spirit.  The Law and Ten Commandments are not to be our source. Our source is God within us! Faith and trust in Him that is indwelling us.

In Romans 7 we are told by Apostle Paul that,

“…ye also are become DEAD TO THE LAW BY THE BODY OF CHRIST; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, WHICH WERE BY THE LAW, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now WE ARE DELIVERED FROM THE LAW, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.“

We are dead to the Law of Moses which had 613 man made laws, including the Ten Commandments given directly by God. We were delivered from The Law from Christ crucified and belief in His finished work on the cross and His rising from the dead. There has been a change! After receiving Christ as our Savior in belief of the atonement for sins He provided on the cross, we now have the spirit of God dwelling within us. How much closer can a believer be to God? The Holy Spirit within has now become our source and replaced the Law of Moses. The foretold Messiah came in the person of Jesus, The Christ, and He fulfilled the promise and paid for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). It is a done deal. All our sins have been paid in full and already judged on the cross. The full payment for sin, that is sufficient to the Father, has been accredited to the account of each believer on Christ. And that includes our future sins because all of our sins today are future from the cross.

It is all about the source; a person is either following the Ten Commandments or he is following The Holy Spirit indwelling. But does that mean it is okay to lie, murder, covet? Not at all. So what does this mean? Let’s think about this logically a moment. Let’s compare what life is like using these two different, yet connected sources.

Life Under The Law As Our Source

Living under the Ten Commandments and all the Law of Moses as our source is like us trying our best in our own ability to keep every commandment without fail. So if we are coveting, in self righteous efforts, we keep saying to our self, “Stop coveting. Stop coveting. Stop coveting. Stop coveting!” Yet, when we do that, we find ourselves in the same situation as Paul in Romans 7, we keep coveting!  It is like a kid who sees a sign on a lawn that reads.. “Do not step on the grass or else!” What does the kid do huh? Stomps around on the grass. (Okay maybe not all kids but you get my point.)

Following the Law as our source will not make you stop disobeying. It also will not forgive the sin you have committed. Romans 5:20 shows us that “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound.” Paul also states that ‘…the strength of sin, is The Law’ (1 Corinthians 15:56). Because the Ten Commandments were given, humankind now sees just how sinful we are. And not only that, it increases our sin. Why? Because we have a sinful nature within us and it is bent toward sinning. Plus, doing good works of the Law will not erase any sins committed. That is why they needed to sacrifice animals as a temporary covering of their sins until Messiah would come.

Life With The Holy Spirit Within As Our Source

“For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are NOT UNDER THE LAW, BUT UNDER GRACE.” (Romans 6:14 KJV)

If we walk in the spirit we avoid the sins of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). God resides within the believer and so if we find ourselves having trouble with the sin of coveting for example, we need to go to our new source, the Holy Spirit within us. With the same example of coveting, we acknowledge (confess) and thank God for forgiving all my sinful ways and we pray to God knowing that without Christ as our source, we cannot bear good fruit (John 15) in self righteous efforts. We pray to God that we are having a problem with coveting. You want to stop but you cannot do this on your own. “God, please renew my mind on this and help me to stop coveting.” Do you think that is a prayer that God will not honor? Yes, it is! When God looks at you, He is not remembering or holding your sins against you in condemnation. We have become sons and daughters of God by our belief on Christ. If your child fails and does something wrong, do you chastise them to teach them or do you kick them out of the family forever? Then why would our heavenly Father?

The more we renew our mind by the Word of God, with the help of the Holy Spirit within us to guide us and help us, we will eventually come to the place where coveting ends in your life. This is following our new source within, our comforter, the Holy Spirit of God. And His guiding and help will follow the Ten Commandments because they are absolute truth and are Holy and right. Plus, Christ fulfilled them!

You see, Christ fulfilled the Law and now God resides within you as the Holy Spirit. Will the Holy Spirit as the source want you to murder, or lie, or covet? No. The Holy Spirit is Christ in you. Christ follows the Ten Commandments perfectly. Apostle Paul puts it this way,  “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” (Romans 8:10 KJV). This righteousness is not our self righteousness. It is the righteousness we now have because Christ is indwelling us as the Holy Spirit. Having accepted the Free gift of eternal life and forgiveness of our sins through belief on Christ crucified as our sacrificial substitute without our own efforts (John 3:18, Ephesians 2:8-9), we are set free from the punishment of our sins.  We now have a newly created spirit within us. Set free from sin and free to live in love for others without worrying about eternal condemnation ever again. The fear of that is gone. The love of God now permeates our very being.

When you hear that believers are dead to the Law, it means we are no longer using following the Law as our source. We follow the Holy Spirit as our source now and the Holy Spirit never guides us to do things against the morals of The Ten Commandments. Besides that, The Ten Commandments were given to Israel, not church age believers who are under a New Covenant that replaced the Old. The Ten Commandments are 100% truth and always will be. God is HOLY and never changes! Th Law is still good for our learning but not addressed directly to Church Age believers; we are under a different Covenant then Old Testament saints. The Law is actually for the UNRIGHTEOUS and not the RIGHTEOUS.

“But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient…” (1 Timothy 1:8-9 KJV)

Prison Break!

THE UNRIGHTEOUS are the group of people who are in the prison of unrighteousness. They cannot erase their sin by being a good person through good deeds and Law following. Trapped in the prison of unrighteousness with no way to escape in their self righteous deeds. No matter how many good deeds they do, they still have unpaid sins.

THE RIGHTEOUS are the group of people who trust in the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus paid for all their sins as a gift and they accepted the gift. They had a prison transfer to the prison of righteousness. In this prison, with all sins paid in full, no sins they commit will have them escape this prison.

For the believer today, there has been a change! Our new source is the eternal indwelling of the Holy Spirit; sealed in life eternal with God (Ephesians 1:13-14).We are the righteousness of God, in Christ. All things have become new in our Spirit which is born again (2 Cor. 5:17-21). We are no longer under The Law. We are under God’s grace and are eternally righteous by the imputation of God. Jesus took our unrighteous Spirit to the cross where we died with Christ (Colossians 2, Romans 6) and He gave us His righteousness in exchange. Now, read that again and again. Get that in your mind as truth. It is such an amazing truth!

Jesus’ commandment to believers under the New Covenant is to, “…love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40 KJV)

God’s Grace Declaration

Under this new covenant of Grace God declares:

“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” (Hebrews 10:16-17 KJV)

Sins are every bad thought or deed we commit. Iniquities is a sin which is of a religious bent. In Matthew 7, Jesus used the word iniquity in describing a person who think they are saved by their ‘many wonderful works’ who instead are not even born again and are headed for condemnation. It is the same as Law following for righteousness which will save no one.

You see, for all that accept His free gift of salvation from our sin debt against God, God does not even remember our sins anymore! That is why Jesus cried out on the cross “It is FINISHED!”

“For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” (Romans 6:14 KJV)

We are no longer under Law! We are under grace!

In fact, the Bible states clearly that teaching people to obey the Ten Commandments as a way to gain God’s righteousness and forgiveness is called a “ministry of death”. And yet, it is preached so often in the pulpits theses days one starts to question if the presenter has read the Bible at all? We need to stop living under the Old Testament Covenant!

“But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.” (2 Corinthians 3:7-9 KJV)

Now don’t misunderstand me. The law is Holy and good and true 100%. It is not done away with but remains. It is Holy. However, the point is that it cannot MAKE you Holy!! Break just one and you broke them all (James 2:10). The law is a mirror causing a person to see the truth about how sinful we all are. After all, a look in a mirror can show that you have a grease stain on your shirt you otherwise may not have known about, right? We see as God sees; it is all filthy rags. A dog can go outside all clean. When he comes back with mud on the fur, is he allowed back into the clean home? Or does the owner have to clean him first?

So many Christians are preoccupied with our sin. But not being under the Law and eternally saved by grace, we should have no consciousness of sins (Hebrews 10). When we sin as a born again believer, we can easily think it stops God’s grace and we try to make up for the sins by doing good works.  This is simply not Biblical! God is not waiting to hit you with a stick when you sin! He foreknew all your sins and Christ placed them all on Christ on that cross and paid the penalty for all sins. If you received His free gift of salvation through Jesus, God does not remember your sins anymore because Jesus already paid the debt of sins for the entire world; past, present and future. If you accepted the pardon Christ provided on the cross, it is 100% finished! Look at 1 Corinthians 15:56-57,

“The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:56-57 KJV)

Yeah, there it is, the Strength of sin is the law. That is pretty clear right?  Apostle Paul talks about the very same thing in Romans 7. It is so unfortunate that Satan is being allowed and using the pulpits of many churches/denominations to fool people and accuse people of their sins and wrong doing and he is teaching the ministry of death to already eternally saved believers.  The devil is using the Ten Commandments to condemn you and accuse you. This is NOT God’s way! And NOT what God is like at all. He has nothing but love for humankind; Look to Christ, He gave His only Son to die for us. God is love.  

DO NOT BE DECEIVED BY ANY MAN OR WOMEN,
ONE OF THE CLOTH OR NOT!
Hear and read the Bible for the truth!

God is teaching people the New Covenant Of Grace in these last days. It is time to for the redeemed born again to stand up and get the truth of the Bible out. Don’t just take every word from a pulpit or someone saying they are Christian telling you to use good works to cover your sins. It is the biggest lie of the devil himself. Who do they think they are? They think they are better than you? Better than Jesus Christ? We are all sinners and Christians should not be boasting as if they are clean while others are not because they do more good works. That is utter non sense! Stop boasting about your good works! They will not save you from your sin debt.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2: 8-9 KJV)

“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” (Galatians 6:14 KJV)

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV)

Do not boast about how good you are as a Christian while the “other people” are evil. Boast about the truth; even as a Christian you too still sin!

The Bible is not telling us about a God waiting to bash you in the head every time you do something wrong. Nothing is further from the truth. The Bible is God’s word showing us how much He loves us. It is the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord unto salvation from the Wrath of God to come upon all sinners who have not accepted the pardon of God.

Salvation Does Not Come Through Condemnation Of Others

 “Salvation comes through condemnation.” Ever hear this taught?

They accuse you of your sins and try to convince you to repent. Yet, their own ministers are doing all kinds of evil. This is the times we live in; the last days! But God is moving today and the truth of the Bible is coming alive and the Gospel of grace is spreading like wild fire. Why? Because once people see the truth of Scripture regarding Law verse Grace, it sets people free.

“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:17 KJV)

Just look at what Jesus did! Read everything He did and that is how God truly is. In every case you will see that the goodness of God comes before repentance. Jesus never condemned a person and said “go and sin no more”. Instead He said, “…Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. ” (John 8:11 KJV).  THAT IS A BIG DIFFERENCE!

Jesus showed people the truth about God. He showed God’s GRACE and then the people repented. Jesus healed people and they repented. He saved a women from stoning by her accusers, forgave all her sins and she repented. This is the Gospel! The Grace of God! Do not mix the Law with the Grace of God. We are living in the days of God’s loving grace being poured on all who believe. Receive it. It’s yours for the taking.

Jesus paid it all !