Grace (Ministry Of The Spirit) And The Law (Ministry Of Death) Are Incompatible
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Trying To Add The Law To The Perfect Recipe Of Grace Is Like Putting Poison, Or A Deadly Drug Into Our Souls. So, A Lot Of Us Need To Go On Spiritual Rehab
THE LAW: YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND… AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF (Mat 22:37-39).
GRACE:THIS IS LOVE, NOT THAT WE LOVED GOD BUT THAT HE LOVED US AND SENT HIS SON AS THE SACRIFICE THAT DEALS WITH OUR SINS (1 John 4:10).
The Law and Grace are in opposite ends of the spectrum. The Law brags of our love for God, while Grace brags of God’s love for us. The Law kills, for it is the ministry of death, while Grace brings life, for it is the ministry of the Spirit. The Law says you must DO, Grace says it is DONE. The Law says you must be righteous to see God, while Grace says you are righteous in Christ and are seated with Christ in heavenly places, for as Jesus is so are we in this world (1 John 4:17).
Trying to add The Law to the perfect recipe of Grace is like putting poison into God’s food for his children, or a deadly drug into our souls. It is like putting poisonous wild vines in a stew prepared for the children of God causing it to be death to those who eat it. A picture of this occurred with Elisha and the sons of the prophets in 2 kings 4:38-41: “When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land. A group of prophets was sitting before him. He said to his servant, “Put on the big pot and cook some stew for the prophets.” So one of them went out to the field to gather plants; he found a wild vine and gathered wild gourds from it, filling his garment. He came and cut them up into the pot of stew, but no one knew what they were. The stew was served to the men, but as they started to eat it, they cried out and said, “There is death in that pot, man of God!” They couldn’t eat it. Elisha said, “Get some flour.” He threw it into the pot and said, “Serve the people so they can eat.” At that point, there was nothing bad left in the pot.” The flour represents Jesus, who is the bread of life, the One by which we receive God’s Grace.
Mixing The Law with Grace is like putting a lethal dose of deadly drug into our souls. Paul, puts it this way in Galatians 3:1-5: “foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” Bewitched or “put a spell” comes from the word “sorcery”, and it is derived from the Greek term “pharmakia” or drug from which the English word “pharmacy” comes from. So, every time we try to be justified by the Law, we are actually putting a deadly drug into our souls.
The Law, simply put, nullifies Grace. Mixing Grace with The Law is like putting a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment which pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results; or putting new wine into old wineskins which burst the wineskins spilling the wine and ruining the wineskins (Matthew 9: 16-17, Mark 2: 21-22). It is like mixing hot (representing the fire of the Spirit) with cold (representing the coldness of the Law, trying to be perfected by the flesh, see Galatians 3:1-5), producing a lukewarm spirit. To which Jesus warns: “You are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I’m about to spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:15-17). Mixing The Law and Grace produces a double-minded man who is unstable in all its ways (James: 1:8; James: 4:8).
As the analogies above teach, The Law divides, while Grace unites. The Law is self-righteousness, while Grace is God’s righteousness. The Law is based on fear, but Grace on love. The Law produces double-mindedness, and is poisonous to our souls, while Grace produces stability or faithfulness, and is healing to our souls.
In Christ’s resurrection, we are no longer under the curse of the law. The law says, obey and you will be blessed. But, Jesus says receive my grace; I have obeyed so you can be blessed. We have been set free from our own works, and Jesus is inviting us to rest on His finished works. But, paradoxically, by resting from our own works, we are free to produce the good works God has prepared for us from the foundation of the world (Ephesians 2:8-10).
The Truth is that it is not our love for God or for others which makes us righteous (this is The Law), but His love for us, i.e. His Grace, or unmerited favor. It is based on this TRUTH that we are then free to love one another. “Those who belong to Christ Jesus are no longer under God’s sentence. I am now controlled by the law of the Holy Spirit. That law gives me life because of what Christ Jesus has done. It has set me free from the law of sin that brings death” (Romans 8:1-2). “This is love [Jesus]: it is not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as the sacrifice that deals with our sins” (1 John 4:10).
While Grace produces UNITY, The Law produces DIVISION. The UNITY which leads to LIFE and the DIVISION which leads to DEATH is exemplified in the early church. On the one hand, the true Gospel, God’s Grace produces UNITY, and LIFE shown by the example of Barnabas in Acts: “The apostles continued to bear powerful witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and an abundance of GRACE was at work among them all. There were no needy persons among them. Those who owned properties or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds from the sales, and place them in the care and under the authority of the apostles. Then it was distributed to anyone who was in need. Joseph, whom the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (that is, “one who encourages”), was a Levite from Cyprus. He owned a field, sold it, brought the money, and placed it in the care and under the authority of the apostles” (Acts 4: 33-37).
However, the mixture of Grace and The Law produces a false holiness that leads to DIVISION and DEATH, exemplified by Ananias and Sapphira: “However, a man named Ananias, along with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property. With his wife’s knowledge, he withheld some of the proceeds from the sale. He brought the rest and placed it in the care and under the authority of the apostles. Peter asked, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has influenced you to lie to the Holy Spirit by withholding some of the proceeds from the sale of your land? Wasn’t that property yours to keep? After you sold it, wasn’t the money yours to do with whatever you wanted? What made you think of such a thing? You haven’t lied to other people but to God!” When Ananias heard these words, he dropped dead. Everyone who heard this conversation was terrified. Some young men stood up, wrapped up his body, carried him out, and buried him. About three hours later, his wife entered, but she didn’t know what had happened to her husband. Peter asked her, “Tell me, did you and your husband receive this price for the field?” She responded, “Yes, that’s the amount.” He replied, “How could you scheme with each other to challenge the Lord’s Spirit? Look! The feet of those who buried your husband are at the door. They will carry you out too.” At that very moment, she dropped dead at his feet. When the young men entered and found her dead, they carried her out and buried her with her husband” (Acts 5: 1-10).
So, what has been preventing the church from completely evangelizing the world? Our lack of UNITY with one another, exemplified by the parable of the good Samaritan: “A man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He encountered thieves, who stripped him naked, beat him up, and left him near death. Now it just so happened that a priest was also going down the same road. When he saw the injured man, he crossed over to the other side of the road and went on his way. Likewise, a Levite came by that spot, saw the injured man, and crossed over to the other side of the road and went on his way. A Samaritan, who was on a journey, came to where the man was. But when he saw him, he was moved with compassion. The Samaritan went to him and bandaged his wounds, tending them with oil and wine. Then he placed the wounded man on his own donkey, took him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day, he took two full days’ worth of wages and gave them to the innkeeper. He said, ‘Take care of him, and when I return, I will pay you back for any additional costs.’ What do you think? Which one of these three was a neighbor to the man who encountered thieves?” Then the legal expert said, “The one who demonstrated mercy toward him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:30-37).
The priest represents an apostate spirit infiltrated in the church, one that is more concerned in appearances, or religious traditions, than in God’s will and real substance. The Levite represents the spirit of legalism that instills prejudice into the hearts of believers, and it is more concerned in “teaching” or “preaching” than in DOING God’s will. These are two of the main spirits dividing the church today, and preventing it from being unleashed onto the world.
The church of Christ is unleashed in our UNITY by demonstrating the love of God in our care and compassion for each other, being the hands and feet of Jesus by actually DOING what Jesus is calling us to DO for a hurting world who will recognize Jesus as the Messiah by our UNITY shown in a tangible way by our love for each other, acting like the good Samaritan and not like the religious and legalistic people of our days represented by the priest and the Levite (teacher of the law) in the parable of the good Samaritan.
One of my brothers in Christ, Joseph Price wrote a meditation that I believe is key to the understanding of the deadly effects of The Law, and the life-giving power of Grace:
“…for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 2 CORINTHIANS 3:6. To the Jews, the feast of Pentecost is a celebration of the giving of God’s law. It takes place 50 days after the Passover feast. When God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, it was 50 days after they had celebrated their first Passover and come out of slavery in Egypt.
But what happened after God gave them the law on the first Pentecost? Three thousand people died! (Exodus 32:28) Contrast this with another Pentecost in the New Testament. In the book of Acts, it says that when Pentecost had fully come, God gave not the law but the Holy Spirit, and what happened? Three thousand people got saved (Acts 2:41), which goes to show that “the letter [the law] kills, but the Spirit gives life”!
The law, which was “written and engraved on stones”, ministered death. It killed 3,000 people. That is why the apostle Paul calls it “the ministry of death” and “the ministry of condemnation” (2 Corinthians 3:7–9). On the other hand, the Spirit ministered life—3,000 people got saved. So if you want to be blessed, make sure that you are on the right mountain. You see, the law was given on Mount Sinai, but the Spirit on Mount Zion. That is why the Bible says that “you have not come to the mountain [Sinai] that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest…But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels” (Hebrews 12:18, 22). The Lord blesses you out of Zion (Grace, God’s unmerited favor through Christ Jesus) (Psalm 128:5), and not Sinai!”
And now guest what is at the root of the division of the Church? Our self-righteousness or The Law. A Christian denomination says our doctrine is the right one for we believe and do this and that, while belittling others, sometimes even calling them sects, for not being as “righteous” as we are.
The evil one’s main tactic throughout history has been to cause separation, beginning with our separation from God when Adam and Eve put their desire for the knowledge of good and evil (their desire to know the law) above God’s will for their lives; but in Christ, we have been reconciled “by grace through faith” (Ephesians 2:8) with God the Father, and we are no longer separated from Him. We are one with God the Father, and God the Son through the working of Holy Spirit that lives in every believer. The Holy Spirit is the glory of God and the One that enables us to be One.
So how can Christians unite and fulfill Jesus’ prayer just before He gave His life for ours (John 17:20-23)? Through God’s righteousness, His Grace, and not ours.
Since Christ already won, and we are in Christ, why is it that some of us are not living victorious lives in this world?
I believe that one of the main reasons is that we do not understand the dimension of the victory of Christ and how it applies to our lives. To understand the great victory we already have in Christ, we need to behold Jesus in our daily lives and this will transform our minds: “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory which comes from the Lord, Who is the Spirit!” (2 Corinthians 3:18). “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).
We behold Jesus by seeing Him in the word. When we see Jesus in the word, our hearts will be warmed by His presence. We will have joy knowing Jesus is there for our every affliction. We can be assured that Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us and that we are so closed with Jesus that He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. As a beloved child of God, we can look to Jesus for our every need. We can be assured He will take care of us for the bible says so. The word says we are made whole through the bodily sacrifice of Jesus (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:23-24) and we are made righteous by the Jesus’ shed blood.
“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).
“When he was insulted, he didn’t retaliate with insults; when he suffered, he didn’t threaten, but handed them over to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the stake, o so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness – by his wounds you were healed” (1 Peter 2:23-24).
The second reason we may not be experiencing Jesus’ position of victory in this world is that we have fallen into a satanic trap, into a form of witchcraft, and this is the trap of our presumption of self-righteousness which has nullified in many areas of our lives the Grace of God: “I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing” (Galatians 2:21). So we nullify the grace of God, the resurrection power of Christ in us, when we try to be justified by the law. Another way of putting it is that we short circuit the power of God flowing through us when we try to be justified by the law.
“and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith; that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Philippians 3:9-10).
The Bible continues describing this form of witchcraft as follows: “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified! The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was for nothing. Well then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?” (Galatians 3:1-5).
Trying to use the law (self-righteousness) produces a short circuit similar to the one in this diagram, not allowing the power of God to produce the light that He wants us to produce through us.
Another analogy to understand this spiritual short circuit is what Paul refers as spiritual adultery, or trying to be justified by the Law while saying that we are justified by Grace. Paul basically teaches that this is a form of spiritual adultery. So, a great portion us today in the church may be committing spiritual adultery by flirting and spiritually engaging with the Law (believing that we are righteous by obeying certain commands, precepts, rules, because we tithe, fast, go to church Sundays, Wednesdays, some even to daily mass, etc.) while being already betrothed to and belong to our Lord Jesus Christ.
“Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. 4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.” (Romans 7:1-4).
Another reason that we may not be experiencing the victory that we already have in Christ in this life is that we have placed limits to the amount of Grace, or amount of anointing from God we can receive. God will fill us with as much oil, His Holy Spirit, His talents and fruit as we allow. The amount of anointing we get, depends on the number of vessels we bring to him. An example of this principle is found in Elisha and the Widow’s Oil:
“Now the wife of a member of the company of prophets cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead; and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but a creditor has come to take my two children as slaves.” Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house, except a jar of oil.” He said, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not just a few. Then go in, and shut the door behind you and your children, and start pouring into all these vessels; when each is full, set it aside.” So she left him and shut the door behind her and her children; they kept bringing vessels to her, and she kept pouring. 6 When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” But he said to her, “There are no more.” Then the oil stopped flowing. She came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your children can live on the rest” (2 Kings 4:1-7).
Here is what the Bible says about The Law, or ministry of death, and Grace, or ministry of life:
“Now if the ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stone tablets, came in glory so that the people of Israel could not gaze at Moses’ face because of the glory of his face, a glory now set aside, how much more will the ministry of the Spirit come in glory?” (2 Corinthians 3:7-8).
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus are no longer under God’s sentence. I am now controlled by the law of the Holy Spirit. That law gives me life because of what Christ Jesus has done. It has set me free from the law of sin that brings death” (Romans 8:1-2).
“Christ lives in you. So your body is dead because of sin. But your spirit is alive because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you. So the God who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your bodies, which are going to die. He will do this by the power of his Spirit, who lives in you” (10-11).
“I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing” (Galatians 2:21).
“and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith; that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Philippians 3:9-10).
“You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified! The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was for nothing. Well then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?” (Galatians 3:1-5).
Just like in the church of Galatia, some people in today’s church use the fact that the word of God is eternal, and reason that at least part of the Law is eternal as well (at least the ten commandments), but the Bible is clear that Christ is the end of the Law: “For Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4).
Even from before the foundation of the earth, God had a perfect plan for our lives. Instead of writing the Law in stones, He wanted to put His Law in our minds (by the transformation of our minds) and write it in our hearts (by the presence of the Holy Spirit in us). But, this Law was based on His Love for us (New Covenant, New Law), and not our Love for Him (Old Covenant, Law of Moses). In the Old Covenant or Old Law, we claim and brag of our love for God, but in the New Covenant or New Law, we claim and brag of God’s love for us.
“This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Hebrews 8:10).
The law of Moses is good, but if anyone tries to be justified by it, one will surely fail, for if one breaks even one command, one is guilty of breaking the whole law, and no one except Jesus has been able to fulfill the law. One of the problems we have in the church today is not understanding what is the law of Moses, so we tried to continue to be justified by it.
At first sight, the law of Moses looks very similar to the law of Jesus, but they are actually very different. The law of Moses is based on our love for God, while the law of Jesus is based on God’s love for us. The law of Moses depends on our obedience to be made righteous before God, while the law of Jesus is based on His obedience to make us righteous before God.
Here are some passages to help us understand the law of Moses:
“He said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22: 37-40).
“You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (James 2:8).
“Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13: 8-10).
“Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5).
“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:18).
The key to understanding the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant is that in the new covenant God redefined the meaning of love: “This is love [Jesus]: it is not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as the sacrifice that deals with our sins” (1 John 4:10).
“And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us” (1 John 3:23).
So what is the command 1 John 3:23 refers to? This is the New Law, the New Command in the New Covenant, in the covenant of His blood: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” (John 13:34).
The law of Moses was only a shadow of Christ. Those trying to be justified by it are always conscious of their sins, but those justified by Christ are always conscious of Christ’s sacrifice for them and not their sins, for all their sins, past, present and future are covered by His blood.
“Since the law is only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who approach. Otherwise, would they not have ceased being offered, since the worshipers, cleansed once for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sin?” (Hebrews 10:1-2).
“Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or Sabbaths. These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” (Colossians 2: 16-17).
Therefore, do not be deceived by those who look “Holy” on the outside, the new teachers of the law and new Pharisees. They call Jesus Lord, Lord, but Jesus does not know them (Matthew 7:22). As in the days Jesus walked upon the earth, these false teachers load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, but they will not lift one finger to help them. They claim to know the way, but they really do not know it.
Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Jesus. He is Love, and His unmerited Love is Grace. No one comes to the Father except through Grace, which we obtain trough faith. If some other spirit tries to replace Jesus’ finished work for our salvation and sanctification, this is the spirit of the anti-Christ (anti does not just mean against, it also means in place of). Do not be deceived by the spirit of the anti-Christ, which teaches a false Gospel. We have been anointed with the Holy Spirit and:
“As for you, the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and so you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, abide in him” (1 John 2:27).
“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you” (John 14:26).
“No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear” (HEBREWS 8: 11-3).
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will renounce the Faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared with a hot iron. They forbid marriage and demand abstinence from foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, provided it is received with thanksgiving” (1 Timothy 4:1-4).
Some people incorrectly believe that our Faith, that is to say, the Gospel refers to our salvation in Christ (eternal life), but that our sanctification and subsequent success in this life depends on our obedience to God (and this obedience varies from denomination to denomination) but what does the Bible say about the true Gospel, to which some have renounced? “But none of these things move me; neither do I esteem my life dear to myself, if only I may finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have obtained from [which was entrusted to me by] the Lord Jesus, faithfully to attest to the good news (Gospel) of God’s Grace (His unmerited favor, spiritual blessing, and mercy)” (Acts 20:24).
And what about our sanctification? Well, we already have it as well as the wisdom, the righteousness, and the redemption of Christ, but to experience them in this life, we need to stop trusting in ourselves, and put our Faith in Him alone, and any other type of faith is unbelief: “He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).
So to experience all the riches we already have in Christ, we need to cry out like the father of the demon possessed boy, saying: …“I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).
The Bible warms us that evil people will come to draw disciples after themselves instead of drawing them to Jesus. The solution to this attack is also given: to hold on to the Word of His Grace, which is able to build us up and give us an eternal inheritance:
“28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. 32 And now I commend you to God and to the Word of his Grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:28-33).
Remember, we are saved not by our own righteousness, what we think is the right way, but His righteousness, his right hand, not ours. In other words, we are saved by Grace, God’s unmerited favor, and not by our works. Many people today have it backwards, they work to deserve God’s favor, but our works, or righteousness according to the Bible, are like filthy rags before God. Only through His Grace, His love, manifested on the cross is that we are made righteous before God. It is only when we recognize our weaknesses and realize that we need a savior that God can freely move and act in our lives. “Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).