God’s Little Flock (church) stays hungry and thirsty. However, their food and drink have nothing to do with physical nutrition. In Matthew 5:6 Jesus stated that the Father would bless those who hunger and thirst for righteousness by filling them with righteousness. The Psalmist defined righteousness in 119:172 as God’s Word–His commandments. Hunger and thirst are two of man’s most basic physical drives. In the Biblical sense, to hunger and thirst for righteousness is to be continuously studying the Bible for more information about the Lord for the purpose of obeying His Laws of life. He gives man those laws so that he can learn how to qualify for eternal life. When one enters a foreign country one should familiarize oneself with the laws of the land in order to fit in with the society. To not do so can result in expulsion from the society. When coming to the Lord one needs to learn and understand the Law of the spiritual society one has entered. This is commanded in 2 Timothy 2:15 where He tells us to “Study to show thyself approved by God.” In 1 Thessalonians 5:21 He commanded us to “prove all things” relative to the Christian walk.

Justification is the removal of all PAST sins by the grace of God (Rom. 3:25). The Christian masses believe that His initial granting of grace covers all future sins. This is not true as Romans 2:13 brings out: “For not the hearers of the law are just(ified) before god, but the DOERS OF THE LAW shall be (remain) justified.” Once justified by the unmerited grace of God relative to our past sins the convert must continue to obey God’s Law summarized in the Ten Commandments in order to qualify for salvation at the return of Jesus Christ. This is further brought out in Romans 3:31 where Paul stated that we do not nullify the Law by faith, rather, we establish it in our hearts, knowing that obeying it will result in our salvation. Let now turn to the sixth chapter of Romans to learn what else the Apostle Paul said to the Church at Rome concerning the subject of this series. We will do this by selecting only those verses that speak about grace, justification and eternal life.

Romans 6: (1,2)–Can we continue to sin because God has forgiven our past sins? God forbids it for we have died to sin. (6-8,11)–The old man of sin died at our conversion, thereby freeing us from the pull of sin. We must remain free in order to live with Christ in the future. (12-22)–We must not allow sin to rule over us. We must not yield to Satan’s temptations. The words “allow” and “yield” mean that the choice is ours. We must not allow sin to RULE over us as was the case under the sacrificial law. We are not under that law, but under grace. We must not sin because we are under grace. We must obey the doctrine of God. In so doing we produce the fruit of righteousness which, if maintained, results in holiness. The end result of holiness is eternal life.

A careful study of the above Scriptures will reveal that sin is not an option for God’s Little Flock. Those who yield to sin will lose their standing in His Flock (church). The Lord gives grace, therefore He can take it away. Recall that Judas was among those whom Jesus pointed to and identified as His brethren who obeyed the will of His Father (Mat. 12:46-49). Jesus also counted him among His friends for whom He would die (Jn. 15:13-15). Concerning the promises of God, including grace, “IF” is the deciding factor. L.J.