Are you Lukewarm?
Revelation 3:15
Here’s a favorite question of some preachers: “Are you a lukewarm believer?”
You’d better have a good answer because if you’re not sure – “Am I lukewarm?” – Jesus may spew you out of his mouth. What does that mean? He’ll reject you, you apathetic Christian! You may think you’re saved, but if you’re not on fire for God, you’ll end up in the fire!
What diabolical nonsense.
First, you are a part of Christ’s body and Jesus doesn’t spew out body parts. Ever vomited up a kidney? A toe? It’s a ridiculous notion, yet this is exactly what the fearmongers say will happen!
Second, being lukewarm has nothing to do with how enthusiastic you are. When I was a young man, free from the responsibilities of fathering or paying the bills, I thought I was on fire for God. That basically meant I went to a lot of meetings and volunteered for a lot of activities. Nothing wrong with that, but you’re deluding yourself if you think busyness impresses the Lord.
Defining lukewarmness in terms of zeal is fraught with problems. What is hot to you is lukewarm to someone else. (You haven’t led as many people to Jesus as Billy Graham? Get out of my sight you lukewarm loser!) Zeal can be a mask for works-righteousness. (As if that impresses the Lord!) And while most would say it’s better to be a little bit on fire for God – “Hey, at least I’m trying” – Jesus would prefer you were stone cold:
I know what you have done; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were either one or the other! (Rev 3:15, GNB)
What does it mean to be lukewarm?
Lukewarm is what you get when you mix hot and cold. To be lukewarm is to mix that which shouldn’t be mixed. For instance, mix the white-hot love of God with the stone-cold demands of the law and you’ll fall from grace (see Galatians). Mix up your husbands by running back to the law and you’re cheating on Jesus (see Roman 7).
Ironically, the mixture of unmixable things is a leading cause of complacency in the church. If Christians are lukewarm in the modern sense, it’s because they are lukewarm in the Biblical sense. They’ve been paralyzed and neutered by the irreconcilable demands of crippling mixture. The disease of lukewarmness results from the following unhealthy activities:
- Mixing the new covenant of grace with the old covenant of works
- Mixing the new law written on our hearts with the old law written on tablets
- Mixing the rest of the new with the ceaseless demands of the old
- Mixing the unbreakable promises of God with the brittle promises of man
- Mixing the bondage of Sinai with the liberty of Zion (Gal 4:31)
- Mixing the ministry that condemns (2 Cor 3:9) with the ministry of no condemnation (Rom 8:1)
In the pursuit of balance, mixed-up preachers give mixed-up messages that lead to mixed-up believers. It’s like getting poison from the doctor.
Why does Jesus prefer us cold to lukewarm?
Live with a mixture of the old and new and you’ll reap the benefits of neither. You won’t enjoy the grace that God has provided, nor will you heed the law that points to Jesus.
The number one cause of lukewarmness is cheap law, namely the delusion that God accepts anything less than perfection. Cheap law may be packaged as the pursuit of holiness or spiritual disciplines. It could be an emphasis on the sacrifices you bring or the promises you make, but its fruit always has the nauseating stench of self-righteousness. “Look what I’m doing for you Lord!”
The remedy for lukewarmness is the sort of stone-cold assessment that Jesus gives to the Laodiceans:
You make me want to vomit. You brag, “I’m rich, I’ve got it made, I need nothing from anyone,” oblivious that in fact you’re a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless. (Rev 3:16-17, MSG)
Why does Jesus say it’s better to be cold than lukewarm? Because the law that Jesus preached silences proud mouths revealing our need for grace.
How do I become hot?
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. (Rev 3:18)
Thank God for grace! Because of grace you get to swap your filthy self-righteous rags for the clean robes of Christ’s righteousness. You get to trade your hay, wood, and stubble for the golden treasure that is Jesus himself. With his salve on your eyes you will see that his sacrifice is a perfectly perfect work that cannot be improved upon.
Want to be hot? Then stop mixing grace with law.
Stop living in the netherworld between two covenants.
Stop running back to your old husband Mr. Law.
Stop doubting the promises of God.
Stop sleeping with the maid of self-effort.
Stop striving for balance.
Stop trying to replicate what Christ has done.
In short, repent and believe the good news that Jesus Christ has done it all!
___________
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Escape to Reality 
Excellent!!! Thank you so much, I look forward to this every week. God bless you and your family.
I have heard that a lot. I went from 100% trust in Jesus. Then ended up with the performance crowd that said do do do! You want to earn rewards? You wanna please God? Well you must sweat, sweat, sweat for Jesus! (Sounds like a name of a real strange Christian Work Out Video). But now I read this article and others and realize I’m on the wrong track. Therefore, I need to get back onto the right track. Any advice is appreciated. This stuff is new to me.
To get back to where you were, all you need to do is turn around. 🙂
another good one Paul, but I see the question coming so does that mean a lukewarm mixer of grace and law still saved? I would say yes because of ignorance because you or I would not be were we are at if that were true
This is so good, Paul. Thank you.
I find that I HAVE TO feed myself on teachings like this all the time. The world (and unfortunately sometimes even the church) will constantly point everything back to yourself, and that mindset produces nothing except some minor benefits of cause and effect.
When God says to labor to enter his rest he means it. It is a labor. In this world with human nature what it is you have to constantly set your mind to the fact that Jesus and nothing else is your righteousness.
Thank you again Paul – Never quite seen the comparison made between the ‘law in our heart’ which supplies, versus the ‘law on the tablets’ which demands! Jesus supplies, the law requires’. If this is hyper-grace praise the Lord again!!
Trevor
Why is cold always considered bad? Why can it not mean useful? As in when this letter was written they’re where hot and cold springs north of the city and by the time the water made its way to the city it was lukewarm and useful for nothing and so spewed out because it was now nasty. So how about teach people to be useful for something. Hot and cold the way most people hear it has a negative connotation. Let’s put it in a positive spin.
Cold is not bad. As Jesus says, it’s better to be cold than lukewarm.
I believe lukewarm refers to mixing ways of the world with ways that Jesus directs. For example, believing that you can comfortably practice premarital sex while being a Christian, is mixing the norm of the world with the ideals of Christianity. Standing on both sides of the fence so as to obtain a Christianity that is more palatable. Light and darkness cannot co-exist and salt that loses it’s savor is of little use. A Christian who ministers with all the behaviours and beliefs of the world, cannot effectively be a disciple of God. Hence why God will spew you out/ will not consider you as part of the body.
You use an extreme example, but sin is sin. Wouldn’t you agree that God must treat all sin seriously? Therefore he would have to spew out those who gossip, whisper, and takes sides in debates (2 Cor 12:20).
Ok. I’m confused. I always heard that it meant you had to work for Jesus and Jesus would be so proud of what you did…well at least you hope He would be. However, if you didn’t do, then He would not be pleased and you would not get rewards.
So my question is….what pleases Jesus? This post shows it cannot be our works which makes sense. Does that mean that to prove to God we aren’t trusting in our works we should stop reading our Bibles and witnessing and praying and so forth?
I got mixed in some how with this work crowd. At one time I had complete faith in Jesus and all I had to do was trust Him. Then these poisoners came along and said Nope, you have to do do do. No it wasn’t to earn Heaven it was to please Jesus and to get a reward. So I thought ok to be a good Christian I must prove myself and work for Jesus.
But there’s always been a little part of me waaaaaay in the back that thought this works thing (even if it wasn’t to earn Heaven) wasn’t quite right. Anyway so I ended up in the work for and perform for Jesus crowd and if you do, you will be on fire for Jesus.
Now I feel like that if I even read my Bible or witness or anything then Jesus will take that as 100% proof I’m not fully trusting in Him so I feel lI must stop doing all that to prove it. So I am wondering if I repent and tell Jesus I am fully trusting in Him and will not worry about performing or doing for Him, will He believe me? Something tells me He won’t but then something else that’s quieter very quiet says He will. After all He led you here, why wouldn’t He?
So please pray for me concerning this. I just want the truth. I’ve always wanted the truth ever since I first put my trust in Jesus. I thought I was doing well by the Lord and I find out I am not and I want to change that, but I need help and prayers. I’ve been poisoned and need help detoxing. Thanks. God bless.
Michelle, thanks for your observations. I humbly want to say that we must be careful not to accept EVERY thought that occurs in our minds as if it is from the Spirit or our OWN thought. Sometimes FEELINGS can mislead us. Trust Jesus and ask for strength and whatever else you need. Only Jesus can detox you. Many are praying for you. We all need each others’ prayers.
Ok thank you and I appreciate all the tips and prayers. I did pray to the Lord today and talk to Him pretty much all or at least most of the day about it.
Michelle, I am blessed my your honesty. What I did when I received the revelation of the pure gospel was to read as many books by authors such as Paul Ellis and others who wrote about grace. I had no clue I was trapped by mixture and so when my heart was opened by the Holy Spirit I decided to follow Him completely. This meant getting out of the mixture church I was in because the performance message made me nauseous. I could no longer afford to be led astray when I could hear Jesus calling me to walk in Him. I am not suggesting you do the same…..it has to be a personal call by the Lord. It is very important to know how to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit and be led in His way. When I removed the “clutter” I had previously given attention to this became and is becoming easier to do. The Spirit speaks gently and softly. And if you have trouble distinguishing His voice from your own or anyone elses He will continue to give you a word and you will eventually recognize He is speaking. The biggest part of coming out of mixture that I have noticed is that I no longer have this “to do list” FOR God. I am resting in what He want to do for me. The Father’s children hunger and thirst for Him and they will spend time with Him as the Spirit leads. The Father’s children also serve Him but it is not out of a guilty obligation. We are no longer servants who can not come into the Master’s house. We are sons who have taken their place as joint heirs with Christ because His blood paid for us to receive all the the Father has. Remember each day you are free in Christ.
There somethings I’ve noticed with this thought or voice or whatever.
1. It is very condemning to say the least.
2. It speaks with a harsh, mean, no mercy, no compassion tone.
3. It always refers to God, Jesus as the 3rd person.
4. There is also absolutely no words of hope.
Examples “Ba! You think that witnessing to that one person is enough? Are you serious? God’s not going to be pleased with that! That’s not enough!” and “Well you’re screwed! You think Romans 8:1 applies to you? That applies to those who are IN Christ! You aren’t and never will be! God’s not happy with you!”
I appreciate the prayers and everything. Sometimes I hear that I’m doomed and there’s no hope from the thought or whatever. Other times I think well maybe Jesus led me here because He wanted me to see the truth so I could be freed if that makes sense? I mean if He didn’t want that, why would it have been brought to light?
Reading the Bible or witnessing is awesome, but do it not to please Jesus but because He is already please with you! And not reading the bible or witnessing is not ever gona change that.
Ok so we don’t do it to please Jesus but because He’s already pleased. Ok. Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.
Thank you for being part of the GR. This explains it. Joan Edwards
Michelle, the fact that you are trying says it all.
Thanks. Um, what do you mean? Hmm. Yeh lately I been trying to ask myself before I read the Bible or witness or any such thing..
Do I really want to do this or is it something I feel I have to do?
If I feel I have to do it or like it is an obligation, then I don’t do it. However, if it is something that I truly want to do, then I’ll do it.
If that makes sense.
Dear Michelle
I certainly understand your concerns. And truthfully the only reason one would have concerns like this, (including myself if I’m not careful) IS because of having a work or law based background. The vast majority of Christians and I’ll just deal with western Christians for now, have been raised with a law based religion. And like any culturally ingrained behavior it’s very difficult to just turn it off when one is exposed to another way. In this case, grace! Now to the crux of the issue: When dealing with the do’s and Dont’s of our walk with Christ it’s not a “Do or Don’t” for the sake of acceptance but rather for the sake of our own benefit! Christ needs no spiritual growth nor does he need to benefit from our works. I don’t smoke or behave in a reckless manner to maintain my heavenly insurance policy. I avoid or try to avoid these things for my own good. I serve the kingdom no good living a ratchet life thus potentially hindering an unredeemed soul from becoming saved that he ( Jesus) died for. By the same token the things that I do for the Kingdom ie: witnessing, studying ect. Again! Is for my benefit. Just like getting an education is for my
benefit. I can choose not to be educated and I will not benefit economically and in many cases socially but I’m entitled to all the protections and rights outlined in our constitution but I would just be a the lower end of the economic ladder with very little resources to be a blessing or benefit to others. Dont get me wrong. I’m not advocating that one becomes some sort of theological giant but by the same token you don’t want to fall into the trap of becoming a grace slouth if you will. So at the end of the day remember, there’s nothing you can add or take away from what he already has done. But what you can DO is to perform for the sake of your own growth so that you will benefit personally and just as important if not more important, keeping the enemy from getting a foothold in your life. I pray this will be of help to you. It certainly has for me. Blessings.
Ok thanks. I will keep this in mind.
Thank you as you did not say this to me, I understood it and see grace with no spiritual law is anarchy for by this grace I see it good to obey and not need it to keep me in place since by Faith I obey in response to God
Left behind the literal Law that brought in the revealing of sin, that brought in Tyranny and is viewed today as God is a tyrant, when God is not and never has been. Yet the enemy lucifer still does his best in playing twister, forming as best he can spiritual undertakers for one to not believe, receive and see truth over the error still here in this world that will one day be folded up by Son when its time to
Thank you
What pleases Jesus? Faith in His grace. Scripture tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God Why is that? Are we being told to somehow work up faith to please God? No! We learn later in the verse that He is a rewarder. When I reward my children, I am pleased when they accept it with simple trust. Faith is the means by which we receive. Thus faith pleased God because through it we receive all that He has freely given us.
Great article! This is a concept I have always struggled with. Why would Jesus want us to be cold?
I like how you say “repent and believe the good news that Jesus Christ has done it all!” I believe this makes a pretty strong case that Jesus is actually speaking to unbelievers in the Church of Laodicea. He is warning them that, like you said, busyness doesn’t impress the Lord, or as some say, “being in Church no more makes you a Christian than being in a garage makes you a car.”
My pastor is actually preaching on this very passage at the moment and in his study, he found some really interesting connections. Laodicea was below the towns of Colossae and Heiropolis, areas which Paul had previously written to. Heiropolis had hot springs to which people would come from all over to relieve pain. Colossae had cold springs of fresh water that were very refreshing. Laodicea had no real water source that was good or consistent, so the piped in water from both of these cities. By the time it got to Laodicea, it would be lukewarm and bitter so that if you weren’t from there, it would make you sick and you would vomit the water out of your mouth.
I think that’s a great possibility and thought I would share it. What do you think?
If I had a dollar every time someone told me about those hot springs, I’d be a rich man! You may be interested in reading the whole series on Laodicea that I wrote some years ago. It’s a verse by verse commentary and you can find it in the Archives or in my new Grace Commentary.
No more striving, no more struggling. In Jesus, I finally found my rest. Thank you, Paul! I’m so blessed with your insights.
Awesome message!!! Thank you Paul 🙂
As always I LOVE your messages! I also find it in churches that even if they don’t outright say you need to do, do, do, it’s very heavily implied. My pastor recently said that if you have been coming to church for a year and even attending the Bible studies, that is great…BUT it’s to grow up spiritually so to speak and start serving. While I do highly believe in serving and believe completely that it can bring us joy when done from grace and NOT obligation, I do not believe that the church should make their members feel guilty if they don’t or can’t.
I’m a single parent and it’s hard finding time to serve on top of everything else you are trying to do to simply care for your children. I don’t go to church every Sunday, but often. And somehow always feel like I am cheating or not doing something right if I am not going all the time. I’ve been trying for over two years to make sincere friendships there and somehow they feel very surface level and sometimes even fake. Almost all my friends and family live on the other side of town from me and so my daughter and I end up traveling across town on the weekends when possible and not exhausted to see them.
The reality is that I often get turned off and annoys by the church within walls (not the real church which is the body of Christians in the world) and the mix messages they give you. It’s like once you awaken to the true gospel of grace, you can’t sit and just listen to the mixed message and soak it in. Now I find myself being a critic and having to search for the truth in the messages. It actually in mentally exhausting. I also feel guilty if I leave and try other churches because I have made some friends at my church now that actually teach there. It all seems too complicated.
Sadly, it is sometimes the case that in the church we form task-based friendships. Which means if you’re not doing stuff, you’ll have trouble being accepted. I think any mom who is able to get to church with small children is amazing. If that mom is then made to feel like she’s not doing enough, something’s wrong. I hope you can find a group of Christ-followers who’ll love you just the way Jesus does – unconditionally, with no strings attached!
Thank you Paul! Yes I agree with your thoughts and have felt that this is most likely the case. God bless you and your beautiful gift of dymystifying the amazing gospel of grace.
I read the book crazy love by Francis chan and felt awful, guilty, and hipocrite. Thank you paul.
Good. Now I know a book I should NOT read. I’ve been across a ton of “You better work hard for Jesus or else He’s going to publically shame you for not being on fire for Him! Now get to work! Btw nothing you will do will ever be enough! Now get to work you dirty filthy no good excuse for a human!” basically.
Doesn’t that sound so motivational? (please note the sarcasm).
You know if ya think about it….it kind of sounds cultish or seems that way.
Michelle, I would suggest you read Paul Ellis’s ‘The Gospel in Ten Words’ to start with. it’s a great book to set you free! And he answers many of the questions you might have on this website. Most of us have come from ‘the hamster wheel of Christian performance’ as Paul describes it, and have found that God loves us so much more than we ever realised, that our righteousness comes from Jesus and that He came to give us an abundant life, not a list of things to do. That is the wisdom of the serpent, who told Adam and Eve they needed to ‘do to become’. Now every time I think I need to ‘do something to become something’, I remember that is not from the Tree of Life!
Yeh doing a honey do list is not an abundant life if ya know what I mean.
While good teaching on legalism I don’t think you’re text has much to do with it. Lukewarm is a state of uselessness, not a mixture, while hot and cold water are usefull. Useless Christians are distetasteful to God, thus the image of being spit out.
What’s a useless Christian?
I totally disagree my brother in Christ! Hate to name call here, but you just came across very self-rightouess. I’m sure you are meaning to come across with right intentions, but to call Christians useless is disrespectful and rude. Can you explain what it means to be useless and would you consider yourself useless or useful and why?
Not bad, brother, not bad.
Are then any previous commentaries or respected (I know that is a loaded term!) bible teachers who intepret this passage about law/grace? I am convinced that one of, if not the, issue that the church (and so believers) face is law/grace but I am not sure this passage can be historically and exegitically shown to be about this? I may be wrong, and, as I said, this is a CRITICAL issue, but I would like to know if this can be supported? I worry if it can’t it discredits the grace movement. Thankyou for championing grace!!!!
In my experience I haven’t found many “respected” commentaries agreeing with what I write here on E2R, and if I do I tend to cite them. However, since it’s not my habit to pass off second-hand revelation, most of the material here is what the Lord has shown me directly. Certainly when I first wrote about the Laodiceans back in 2010, I didn’t know anyone who was preaching this stuff. But now lots of people are. I’m not saying I’m the font of all wisdom, but I have seen the Lord give the exact same revelation to unrelated people at the same time. Update: To answer your question, check out my new Grace Commentary.
Certainly Joseph Prince teaches this passage in the same way. So does Creflo Dollar. Why are you concerned about previous commentators? The church has suffered from so much misguided teaching throughout the years. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth. How can it be about performance when the whole of Galatians for example, shows us that the Christian life is about grace and not works of the law? I thank God for grace teachers like Paul Ellis who are standing up for truth and swimming against the tide of performance based Christianity.
How could this discredit the grace movement? Grace simply filters this passage through the finished work of Christ Tradition sadly only knows how to read this through the fear of loss because tradition was never based on Jesus work but on man’s.
Well, my pastor preached on this today (what a coincidence, right. 🙂 The takeaway was that most of us are lukewarm and that we will need to try harder. I suspect that this will produce little change in anyone. People have been preaching this way for a long time and can anyone really tell me that trying harder suddenly caused them to be hot for God??
I’ve been immersing myself in grace now for a year or more and his message still tempted me to feel condemned. Nowadays I use my faith to specifically refute these type of messages. I got in the car and thanked God that yes – I am rich. But my riches do not come from my filthy rag self righteousness but solely from Jesus’ and his work. Even though I don’t always reflect my God-Righteousness I am in no danger of being spewed from Jesus’ mouth. I have never felt closer to him. So I suspect that I am hot. All praise to God, none to me.
Then I came home and read your post on this again, Paul. And it set me right even further. What you do is very important to a lot of us. Don’t ever think otherwise.
Thank you, Alicia.
In April 1995 I was going through a lot of stuff within my church family, not good stuff, a lot of condemnation and accusations towards me. I would walk a lot during that time and on one particular walk I heard my Father’s voice so sweetly and succinctly. He showed me a vision of myself of a very small child and then spoke and said, “you are like a small child, trying to dress yourself, getting your arms into the wrong sleeves, shoes on wrong feet, etc. this is what you are trying to do putting on righteousness and you can’t do it – I must clothe you,” he said. Then I began to see my Heavenly Father removing all my filthy rags and clothe me in His robe of righteousness, crown me with His crown of life and place in my hand His scepter. I was a believer and had this “passionate, hot desire for Him,” and yet He showed me very clearly that my works and passion don’t make me righteous. Also, not many days after that when walking, I received an incredible peace within that has never left me, and at the time of noticing this incredible, indescribable peace I said, “Whoa, what is this?” I was so concerned in losing it, and I heard my Lord Jesus say, “Pennee, did you do this?” and I responded, “no Sir,” and he responded, “Well you can’t maintain it, it is my gift to you.” And since those days Jesus has kept his promise and peace is always resounding in my heart. In 2001 I was introduced to John Sheasby (a grace teacher from S. Africa) and later you Paul and Joseph Prince. I am so thankful that what the Lord was showing me in my simple daily walks he continues to confirm through grace and the teaching of grace. Thank you and my prayer is that all God’s children will receive the revelation of grace and peace.
Thanks for sharing your story, Pennee. God is good! You may want to resubmit your story to our Grace Stories page so it gets seen by others going through similar experiences?
is it possible for a Hot Christian to be lukewarm?
Ask the Galatians.
im a bit bothered. can those under Grace lose their salvation?
or are those who went back to being lukewarm were never saved at all?
My answer to your first question is here. Anyone, saved or unsaved, can get confused about God’s love and grace. Anyone, saved or unsaved, may put rules ahead of love.
arigato.
Paul, thank you for this view you got from this scripture. I see the same as you said, here that like as oil does not mix with water, Law does not mix with grace
For I can take a glass of water and add oil in it and as this glass sits still, I see these two do not mix.
When I take the glass and shake it up, it does appear that these two mix. So I see to sit still and know God, by the sitting still, and committing all my ways to God and that to me is what the choice is to believe consciously never giving up belief to God through Son
So I see God saying to make the final choice to believe, Hot or not to believe Cold, Lukewarm to me is riding the fence as Peter did, when he denied Christ three times as Jesus said he would, and yet God knew Peter does love him. And Peter came to maturity over time, as God continued to love him in any and all mistakes along the way
Thank you for this post, in confirmation to me to continue to not take God fro granted in appreciation to walk by the risen Faith in Christ presently. Continuing daily in standing in this present given to all to come to believe and stand in that only to see
I understand that many who have now experienced grace over legalism tend to view a lot of scripture as law vs grace somehow. The Mosaic Covenant never provided redemption through self-effort. Instead, God’s law revealed God’s perfection and the great need of sinners for a Savior.
Righteous works come through faith in Jesus. They may have not been trying to earn their redemption through their works but because things were going well for them they no longer felt they needed to put their trust and faith in the Lord. A church that takes things for granted becomes ineffective in the community.
Jesus wished they were either hot or cold, in other words, effective in living a life reflective of God’s grace.
He may very well have used the water analogy to get the point across….cold water- the church is refreshing due to what Christ has done or hot water- the soothing, healing that Christ has brought to us. A faith-filled church has the power of the Holy Spirit and through His grace people that come in contact with those church members will experience the love, warmth, peace, healing and refreshing joy that only Christ can give.
To use the law-grace understanding in this passage is to say that one of Jesus’s alternatives is to wish you were cold ( to live a perfect life under the Law). The Jesus of the Bible would never wish that for anyone…..that would be a different Jesus.
The law vs grace distinction may be over-used, but it’s a convenient label. The alternative would be to write trusting in self vs trusting in the Lord.
The Jesus of the Bible was the greatest law preacher of all. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus elevated the law: “You have heard it said… but I say unto you…” He made God’s requirements clear: “Be perfect” (Matt 5:48). Jesus wanted the self-righteous to submit to the law so their proud mouths would be silenced and their great need for grace revealed. Nothing angered Jesus like so-called law-experts who did not submit to the law. “Do everything they tell you, but do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach” (Mat 23:3).
Amen and amen. Unfortunately, those still fighting us about this, say they are in grace… My experience is that no one thinks it’s mixture till you get it, then in hindsight it becomes clear. It seems understanding must come by revelation.
Very profound statement, Helen. I’m slow to wake up to this fact sometimes. I had long dialogues with someone over this and got a bit frustrated when he didn’t come around. Many people are quite content with the mixture. They like their hand in things, adding to what God has done. My natural lack in many areas now enables me to receive from God more. When I started receiving the blessings that come from God rather than my own paltry efforts I knew I would never go back.
While Jesus was on earth He said ‘without my Father I can do nothing’. He then proceeded to do everything – He healed the sick, raised the dead and all the rest!! As the eternal Son of God he had allowed Himself to be placed on the earth requiring His Father’s directions constantly – He was and is our perfect example to LIFE – Rest in Him and see Him do everything!! Rather labour to REST rather than labour to DO!! Rest in HIS FINISHED WORK and see Him DO EVERYTHING!!
Amen!!
Trevor.
so we’ll put it’s a grenade in a nut shell. my spirit burned like fire reading this. it’s clear you have well devided the word .God bless and I will use it as a strong hold braker.
I see a lot of folks confused about ‘doing or not doing’ to please Jesus.
For me I like think of it in that I simply feel compelled, as in the scripture below, to love on others 💚 When I’m compelled, for me it’s a burden of love, not duty. It’s giving to the lost what I freely received… the grace lavished on me. I nearly can’t help it… the desire to share the most liberating news in the universe‼️
1Cor9:15 For my part I have used none of these rights, nor have I written these things that they may be applied in my case. For it would be better for me to die than for anyone to deprive me of my boast! 16 For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am compelled to preach† — and woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 For if I do this willingly, I have a reward, but if unwillingly, I am entrusted† with a commission. 18 What then is my reward? To preach the gospel and offer it free of charge and not make full use of my rights in the gospel 🎉💥