We have been told for years that the Old Testament believers were saved by the law; but now we are saved by grace. But how could anyone have ever been saved without the mercy and grace of God the Father? Or how could anyone have ever been saved without the blood of Jesus Christ which is called “the blood of the Everlasting Covenant”?
By the grace and mercy of God the Father, eternal salvation has only come “by faith” in the blood of Jesus Christ; from the beginning of creation until the last soul is saved.
Acts 4:12
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
Revelation 13:8
” … the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
Jesus is called “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” but we know that He didn’t die a sacrificial death at the beginning of creation. And we do know by scripture that His atoning blood stretched back that far in order to cover the first sin of Adam and Eve, as well as to all the Old Covenant believers who were all saved “by faith” in their coming Messiah (Hebrews 11).
Romans 1:17
“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”
The apostle Paul is referencing the Old Covenant Testament scripture in Habakkuk.
Habakkuk 2:4
“…but the just shall live by his faith.”
Hebrews 11:6
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”
Back to the grace and mercy of God the Father and the blood of Jesus redeeming the Old Covenant Testament believers:
Hebrews 9:15
” … for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the FIRST testament, they which are called might receive THE PROMISE of eternal inheritance.
Eternal salvation has always been given by inheritance through God’s covenant, by the promise (blessings) of the Everlasting Covenant. It has never come by a law even under the first testament, the Old Covenant Testament.
Galatians 3:18
“For if the inheritance be of the law,
it is no more of promise:
but God gave it to Abraham by promise.”
We have been told for years that the Old Testament believers were saved by the law; but now we are saved by grace. But the apostle Paul said that was an impossibility because “no flesh” has ever been justified (cleansed/forgiven) by the works of the law; that includes all the Old Covenant saints, even Abraham.
Romans 4:1-2
“What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.”
Paul said that even the Jews knew that the law couldn’t save them (justify them) but that justification (forgiveness of sins) came only “by faith” in the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Galatians 2:15-16
“We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: FOR by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Romans 3:20
“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: FOR by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
Galatians 3:21
Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
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All of this confusion has come because the leaders that came before us have misunderstood Paul’s writings. They have taken the scripture below out of context, then created a false premise and made a faulty conclusion.
Romans 6:14
“For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”
Paul wasn’t saying that they were not obligated or not bound by the moral laws of God, but instead he was explaining to them that they were no longer under the law of the wages of sin is death.
Ezekiel 18:4, 20
“… the soul that sinneth, it shall die…”
Romans 6:23
“For the wages of sin is death;
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The only way sin has “dominion” over us is by the death penalty. “The wages of sin is death” is a law that God established from creation. So when he says they were not under “the law”, he only meant that specific law of “the wages of sin is death”. The reason we should know this is because Paul says in another place that he was under the law to Christ. He also told us that he continued to bring his body into subjection to God’s commandments so that he wouldn’t lose his salvation.
1Corinthians 9:27
“But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”
Here are three witnesses that state we are under the law of God to obey it; proving that the moral laws of God are both valid and binding under the New Testament Covenant (There are many more than these):
1 Corinthians 9:21
” … being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ…”
Paul speaking under the New Testament Covenant declares that a woman is bound by the law:
Romans 7:2-3
“For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress…”
1Corinthians 7:39
“The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.”
When we are justified by our faith in Jesus Christ, we are free from the law of sin and death; and we are then under grace; and that grace is the eternal life given to us by the power of the Holy Spirit. At the same time we are warned over and over again to keep God’s laws under the penalty of coming under the dominion of the law – the death penalty. Jesus in Revelation chapters 2 & 3 warned His New Testament churches to obey Him or He would come as “a thief” to destroy them and they wouldn’t know when that would be. This is the same warning that is given to the wicked unbelievers.
Jesus also warned us that if His servants didn’t “watch” for Him; meaning turning from sin daily through confession and repentance, then they were in danger of being caught unaware in their destruction as well and they would receive the reward of the unbeliever, which is damnation.
This is a parable about God’s servant who turns back to practicing unrepentant sinning without “watching” or being “ready”. But this is not the same as when we as believers fall into sin and turn from it like our example of the Lord’s Prayer instructs us to do. In that prayer we find it’s a daily prayer; “give us this day our daily bread” (the word of God) and we also are asking for forgiveness of only those past sins we committed since our last request. When we daily confess and repent, we are in obedience to what God told us to do; just like He required the Old Covenant believers to do as well.
Luke 12:45-46
“But and if that servant say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; The Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for Him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.”
Summary and Conclusion:
No one has ever been saved (justified/forgiven) by the works of any law.
No one could ever possibly “earn” their own salvation.
Only the grace and mercy of God the Father and faith in the blood of Jesus Christ could/can save people, under both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.
God still required/requires both Old Covenant and New Covenant believers to keep His laws under the penalty of death and damnation if left unrepented of.
God even required the heathen nations during the time of the Old Covenant to obey His holy laws even though they were not Jews or part of Israel. Nineveh believed and obeyed and were saved; but the Amorites did not believe and were destroyed and removed.
Matthew12:41
“The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.”
Genesis 15:16
“But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: FOR the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
Leviticus 18:26-30
“Ye shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you: (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;) That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you. For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people. Therefore shall ye keep Mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.”
God’s laws are still valid and binding today and He requires us to keep them under the same penalty of death as He warns us about under both the Old Testament and under the New Testament. There is no difference in this respect; which was the false premise and false conclusion of teaching “we are not under the law but under grace”.
If all the laws of God had been nailed to the cross making them void and no longer binding; then we wouldn’t have sin under the New Testament anymore because that’s what sin is, it is the transgression of the law of God. It’s also deductive reasoning that if all the sins listed such as adultery, covetousness, stealing, murdering, lying etc.; which are sins against God’s laws, why are they still spoken of and warned against if they were supposedly nailed to the cross?
Only two types of laws were nailed to the cross of Christ making them void; that is all the Levitical priesthood laws (the laws of animal sacrifices etc.) and the law of sin and death for the forgiven repenant sinner who is currently walking after the Spirit by walking in the commandments of God, even if they may fail and sin – because in returning through confession and repentance daily, they are obeying and following what God commanded us to do.
NEW TESTAMENT PROPHESY found in the Old Testament:
Finally Isaiah chapter 24 is the proof that these things are true. This is a prophesy that hasn’t been fulfilled yet, but it will be performed under the New Testament time period.
Isaiah 24:3-6
“The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled:
for the LORD hath spoken this word.
The earth mourneth and fadeth away,
the world languisheth and fadeth away,
the haughty people of the earth do languish.
The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof;
BECAUSE they have transgressed the laws,
changed the ordinance,
broken the everlasting covenant.
THEREFORE hath the curse devoured the earth,
and they that dwell therein are desolate:
THEREFORE the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.”
One last warning from Jesus, and He also tells us why:
Matthew 7:21-23
“Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.”
These folks are going to be “Christians” because they are doing things that only Christians would do. They are claiming to have done all these things by the power of His Holy Spirit. Although they may have started with the Holy Spirit, they departed from Him because of practicing sin and not turning from it like He commanded us to do. They are hoping, just like the physical children of Abraham, to get credit for being the children of God. And even though Jesus knows everyone, because He gave each of them the breath of life; He will tell them “I never knew you”. Meaning that they were not continuing to abide in Him and therefore they don’t get partial credit, it will be as though He never knew them and as if they had never received His Holy Spirit.
Paul told some folks in Galatians that they had fallen from grace because some of the unbelieving Jews were trying to get them to perform the voided Old Covenant commandments for their justification and they believed them and were seeking to do those things. These Galatians had had the Holy Spirit before they fell from grace. But when they fell from grace and lost the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; there was (and still is) hope in confession and repentance while the door remains open, because Paul also told them that he “labored” and “travailed” (as in child birth) to bring them back into the truth of the gospel so that Christ would be formed in them again. They were birthed once before into the kingdom of God by the power of the Holy Spirit and now Paul asserted to bring them in again).
Galatians 4:19
“My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you…”
Thank you for your time in reading this message, hope it blesses you.