If church people are not hungering and thirsting for righteousness it is because they feel no need for more of the Lord. This is the same deadly spiritual disease that afflicted their ancient ancestors in the church at Laodicea (Rev. 3:14-17). Such people are satisfied with religious business as usual because they have been deceived by Satan into believing that they are saved, born again and “… in need of nothing.” Those who truly hunger and thirst for righteousness are deeply motivated by God to keep His Ten Commandment Law which He gave us because of his great love for us. That Law shows us how to become and remain His child. There is no other way. Truth-seekers continually study the totality of God’s Word in order to better understand His Will and Way. When true seekers of the Lord realize they are wrong they deeply repent, turn and follow the leading of His Holy Spirit, which always points to His Word. Psalms 119 reveals the emphasis God places on His Word.

Having been justified–cleansed of all PAST sins by God’s grace (undeserved favor)–God-seekers remain justified by obeying (being doers of) His Law: “For not the hearers of the Law are just(tified) before God, but the DOERS OF THE LAW SHALL BE (REMAIN) JUSTIFIED” (Rom. 2:13). Paul went on to say in verse 15 that true God-seekers “show the WORK (doing) of the Law written in their hearts.” See God’s Royal Law and Justification. Though Christians are justified by grace, they are required to keep (do, work) the Law in order to qualify for salvation at the return of Jesus Christ. Jesus drove this point home in Matthew 7:21 while describing the fruits by which true Christians and fake Christians are identified: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven (the church), but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” And what is His will? He explains through Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:19, noting that “… the keeping of the commandments of God” is the only thing that matters. God makes it plain that we cannot enter His kingdom by thinking that Christ has done it all for us. To the contrary, His death erased our PAST sins and provided the Holy Spirit power to keep sin out of our lives. Sin, we are told, is failing to obey/do/work the Ten Commandment Law (1 Jn. 3:4). Righteousness, which is required for salvation, is the opposite of sin. Therefore, righteousness is obedience to the Law.

Unless one has the love of God in his heart he cannot be a true Christian. Paul declared in 1 Corinthians 13:1-8,13 that he could speak heavenly words, prophesy, understand all mysteries, have all knowledge, have all faith, give away all his goods and willingly submit to martyrdom–and it would count for nothing if he did not have agape (God level love). God’s #1 apostle said that without love for God and his fellow man he would be a cast-off, a reprobate, eternally separated from God through death.

“I love the Lord,” is a common refrain often heard within professing Christendom. But is this true? Let us find out. “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS. For this is the (how we prove our) love of (for) God, that we KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS” (1 Jn. 5:2,3). This means keeping all ten of the commandments in the Law, including His seventh day (Saturday) Sabbath AS HE COMMANDED, not Satan’s Sunday Sabbath as the Catholic Church commands and the whole of professing Christendom observes. See The Mark of the Beast. In Romans 13:8-11 the Lord, speaking through Paul, makes plain the fact that the Law that was supposedly “nailed to the cross” is still in effect. Jesus had earlier said the same thing when answering a lawyer and a rich young ruler who both asked the same question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” In each case He answered their question by directing them to the Ten Commandment Law. That law, Paul tells us, is holy, just and good (Rom. 7:12). Note that he was writing to the New Covenant Church, telling her that the Law IS, not was, holy, just and good. This was written some 20 years after the founding of the church. Yet modern religionists reject those Spirit-inspired Words coming to her straight from the heart of God. In so doing they reject His Lordship over their lives (Jn. 12:44-50). One worships and serves either God or Satan. Institutional Christianity has embraced the latter. To be continued. L.J.