“Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.” (Joshua 1:7)
The law came through Moses to the people of Israel, when they followed it, they thought themselves to be in the good graces of the Lord, as long as they stayed on the straight and narrow path, not turning to either side, they believed that the Almighty would bless them. The problems arose when the Law was followed, but not because of a love for Him.
Abraham loved before the Law, Moses did not enter into the presence of God because he kept it, you were not saved because of a commandment you kept, all who will live forever in the Kingdom of the Most High are there because of the grace of God.
“To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” (Romans 3:26)
Love is the response to grace once we recognize the truth that all our works are filthy rags, that not one of us is righteous, that it is God who chooses who will be His children, that only the shed blood of Jesus Christ was sufficient for the salvation of our souls. Those who believe otherwise will not see God, save for that moment at the Great White Throne of Judgment.
This I believe is one of the main reasons that the thousands of false religious systems thrive, to stay on the straight path requires complete and total submission to the truth of grace, to turn to the right or left offers the individual even just the smallest amount of pride in that he believes himself to possess a trait that the Living God admires, a work that He sees as worthy of His acceptance.
My friends, it is not so.
If complete and total adherence to the Law, even if it was done out of love could not save a man from his sins and the wrath of God, what is it that makes you believe being baptized will, following the Ten Commandments will, living a good clean moral life or any other deed that you do would be accepted as sufficient for the salvation of your eternal soul? You are saved by grace through faith. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)
“Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” (Gal. 3:6)
It is too simple, and mankind has pride.
One of the most significant problems, if you will with pride, is that it can only be weighed in the balance, in the scales, it must be weighed against the shed blood of Jesus Christ, and one drop of that precious blood that was shed for you outweighs every single work towards salvation that all men have ever done.
Where did your faith come from? Would you have it without knowledge of the Lord? Did you find God on your own, were you seeking for Him, or did He reveal Himself to you. What do you have that was not given to you?
When the Almighty reveals Himself to a man, that man must make a decision, to believe that the Word of God is truth, that it is the spoken word of the Almighty Himself, or to turn to the right or the left and search for another way into the Kingdom.
Every person will be shown the truth of these words, all will give an account to the Lord, saved and lost. The saved as to how they lived their lives for His glory, the lost as to why they decided to deny the truth, why they would not believe the truth of grace through faith.
“Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matt. 7:14)
