Two of Satan’s favorite words are FAITH and GRACE. As is the case with all things involved in the spiritual war that Satan wages against salvation seekers, twisting, changing, interpreting, adding to and removing from God’s Words are his (Satan’s) forte, his mode of operation, his go-to strategy. Why? Because it works. His success in this area began with the Church of Eden where, by adding one small word to God’s message enabled him (Satan) to destroy the first church of which God Himself was the pastor. That word was “not,” as in “You shall NOT surely die” (Gen. 3:4). With that one word the history of the world was not merely changed, it was reversed from what God had intended it to be. Man, having the power of choice, has consistently chosen Satan’s words over God’s Words ever since. Sadly, the outcome will be the same for all who follow in Adam and Eve’s spiritual footsteps. Adding words is just one of the devil’s weapons of mass spiritual destruction.

Being manipulated relative to FAITH AND GRACE are two more weapons he uses to deceive man into following Him. Over time Satan has honed his spiritual weapon (word-adding, deleting, misapplying, etc.) to perfection. Today he uses two words to keep the vast majority of salvation seekers under his control by convincing them that obedience to God’s Word/Gospel/Law/Truth is impossible, and that all that is needed to be saved is man’s FAITH and God’s GRACE. Like the word “not,” those words are legitimate if used in the correct context as they are throughout the Holy Scriptures. However, when misused they can be deadly, as they often are in religious circles when people focus on the Lord’s “headlines” (promises made to believers) but ignore His “fine print” (conditions for receiving those promises). The Lord’s extremely important “fine print” can be summed up in one word: OBEDIENCE. Without obedience to His Word, faith and grace, like Bible study, praying, etc., have no effect. This explains why 99% of church prayers go unanswered. Without obedience to His Law, God places a spiritual brass dome over the seeker which does not allow his/her prayer to get through to Him (Deut. 28:23).

My ministerial commission from the Lord is to tell the Institutional Church about His “fine print” and its relationship to His “headlines.” I have found that church people readily embrace the latter, but absolutely reject the former. As was the case in Eden, man is very selective when it comes to God’s Word–he embraces what he believes and ignores everything else. As Jesus said, “Satan has deceived the whole world” (Rev. 12:9). I have learned never to underestimate the power he has over the church. I continually deal with that power on a personal as well as a ministerial basis. As I have stated before, of the thousands of local people who have read my newspaper articles and heard my radio messages, I am aware of only five who have believed God’s Words and obeyed them. Personally, he is constantly tempting me to take the easy out by falling into the church’s universally embraced, all-powerful sin-repent, sin-repent, sin-repent cycle–another powerful trick by which he keeps his captives under his control. It is easy to understand why Satan’s way is preferred to God’s way. The contrast is total and man’s choice is understandable. Satan’s sin and get away with it theology, when compared to God’s commanded obedience creates an easy choice for the vast majority of salvation seekers. Satan wins that battle 99.99% of the time.

It is true that our faith and God’s grace are necessary in order to attain eternal life. However, as dozens of Scriptures plainly reveal, without obedience, those two holy Truths will not usher the seeker into God’s presence, either in this life and or in the life to come. Jesus of Nazareth is the prime example of the necessity for obedience in order to stay in good stead with the Father. This is brought out in Isaiah 7:14-17. Here the prophet is speaking about the Messiah Who would come to earth in the latter days as a God-given Sign (vs 14) for those who are called by His name. In verses 15 and 16 the prophet humanizes the coming Messiah by proving that Jesus Himself would have to LEARN the difference between good and evil, CHOOSE the good and REFUSE the evil in order to fulfill His commission. Note Isaiah’s statement that “BEFORE the Child will KNOW to REFUSE the evil and CHOOSE the good” … certain bad things would happen to Israel (vs 16). Being totally human, Jesus, like all humans, had to LEARN and CHOOSE CORRECTLY. He then had to obey the good. Read Jesus Christ: God, Man Or God-man? and The God of the Old Testament. Key words–God-man and Old.

If the Son of God had to LEARN to distinguish between good and evil, had to CHOOSE the good, then had to OBEY the good in order to become the Savior of mankind, why does man only need to believe in order to receive salvation? Could not Jesus have simply BELIEVED that the Father had sent Him to be man’s Savior, and that, through God’s GRACE, He was already the Savior? Could He not have gone the WOKE ROUTE in which believing is reality and have simply believed Himself into being the Savior of mankind? Why did He have to OBEY THE ONE WHO SENT HIM in order to become what He sent Him to be and to accomplish what He sent Him to accomplish? Why did He have to go through the ordeal that cost Him His life?

BECAUSE THAT IS THE WAY IT IS. And no amount of wishful thinking, reasoning, “knowing,” believing, etc. will change God’s way of doing things. He commands us to: “Be holy AS your Father in heaven is holy” and to “Be holy BECAUSE your Father in heaven is holy”–EXACTLY AS DID JESUS OF NAZARETH IN ORDER TO BE AND DO AS GOD COMMANDED HIM TO BE AND DO (Lev. 11:44,45/1 Pet. 1:15,16; 2:5,9). God is no respecter of persons, even if one of those persons was Jesus of Nazareth (Acts 10:34). If Jesus had failed one time man would not have a Savior. Recall that He told the rich man that “one thing” would prevent him from being saved (Mat. 10:21). What He said to the rich man He says to all men. With the Lord it is all or nothing–His way or the highway. He has earned the right to demand perfection from those with whom He will spend eternity (Mat. 5:48). He is the Lord, He does not change (Mal. 3:6). He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8). In Him there is no variableness, no shadow of turning (Jam. 1:17). To walk with Him in this life we must know His way, agree with His way and obey His way (Amos 3:3). To walk any other way while “knowing” that we are walking with the Lord is to deceive oneself (Jam. 1:22).

As numerous Scriptural passages bring to light, we DO what we ARE. What we do (how we walk/live) is a reflection of what we ARE. WE ARE WHAT WE SPIRITUALLY CONSUME. WE SPIRITUALLY CONSUME THE LORD WHEN WE STUDY HIS WORDS AND BELIEVE THEM. JESUS IS THE WORD (JN. 1:1-4.14) WHICH WE MUST BELIEVE. BUT THERE IS ONE MORE STEP BEYOND BELIEVING–THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP–THAT IS TO DO WHAT HE COMMANDS US TO DO. READ JAMES 2:10,14,17,18,20,24,26). WITHOUT OBEDIENCE, BELIEVING (FAITH) IS MEANINGLESS. SATAN BELIEVES GOD’S WORDS; HIS PROBLEM IS IN THE DOING PART. BY EXHIBITING THAT SAME CHARACTERISTIC, RELIGIOUS MAN PLACES HIMSELF IN THE SAME SPIRITUAL CATEGORY AS SATAN. Knowing without doing is knowing in vain.

In the following segment we will study a number of Scriptures that prove the necessity for obeying God’s Word in order to inherit eternal life. We must prove our love for the Godhead by obeying Their Words/Law/Gospel/Truth (Jn. 14,23; 15:10/ 1 Jn. 2:2-5; 3:1-10). Only those who do so will rise to meet Christ in the first resurrection, descend to the Mount of Olives, then enter Jerusalem where He will establish the Kingdom of God. In New Jerusalem, God, Christ and their Very Elect saints will rule, first the earth for 1000 years, then the universe forever. Read The Three Resurrections, The Kingdom of God and God’s Very Elect. Key words–Three, Kingdom and Caretakers respectively. L.J.