Lawlessness, Part 2

Lawlessness - a World Without Rules nor Rulers
LAWLESSNESS IS NOT PLEASING TO GOD... The word INIQUITY is used throughout all the scriptures. The KJV is the version which we have used, but a brother in the Lord quoted many scriptures out of his New King James version that replaced the word INIQUITY with the word LAWLESSNESS. This brought on an intense study to find out exactly what the word INIQUITY means... The Strong's Concordance states the following Old Testament definition: Hebrew 5771: perversity, evil; fault, mischief, punishment, sin. This definition doesn't talk about lawlessness. It simply means sin. But wait, the New Testament meaning for iniquity has a very different meaning: Greek, 458: Illegality; violation of law; transgression of law; unrighteousness. Greek 93: Legal injustice; wrongfulness of character, life or act; iniquity... Again, we are under the NEW covenant of grace through Christ Jesus. But by grace do we no longer obey God? God forbid. The scriptures caution us against this and also prophecy that this gospel of disobedience will grow as we near His return: Matthew 24:11-13 "And many false prophets shall rise, and shall decieve many, And because iniquity (Lawlessness) shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end shall be saved." One of the most sobering scriptures is the following: Luke 13:23... "Then said one unto him, Lord, are there FEW that be saved? And he said unto them, 'Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are; then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me all ye workers of iniquity (Lawlessness).'" This scripture is so very distinct in the reason as to why they could not enter in. They professed Him, but they still did not obey God's Word. 2 Timothy 2:19 "Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." (Lawlessness) We are to depart iniquity. When you depart something you are to leave it. Did you know that when something is departed it is dead? When one gives reference of one being departed this means that one has died. So should we be towards sin. We are alive in Christ and dead to sin! Romans 6:16-19 "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh; for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness."		THE OPPOSITE OF LAWLESSNESS IS OBEDIENCE. John 14:15-21 "If ye love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth Me no more; but ye see Me; because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you. He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me; and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love Him, and will manifest Myself to him." Obedience to the Father and His Word comes down to the point of loving God. As Jesus asked the disciple, so we must direct that question to ourselves, "Do you love me?... Do you love ME?... DO YOU LOVE ME...?" An amazing study revealed that there are over 2000+ commandments in the New Testament alone. Through His Spirit, we are to set our hearts to obey them. We all have seen true legalism at work. We have seen those who try to impose man-made rules upon brethren rather than those from Scripture. There is such a thing as legalism in a very negative sense, but we must be awake and alert to not allow those who try to find excuses not to obey the Word of God claim that obedience is legalism. We cannot work our way into heaven. We are only saved through our believing in our Lord and Saviour. But when we believe and have faith in Christ, our faith will have fruit. We will be filled with good works. Today in our religious culture, the word "works" is almost something one must whisper. We are admonished not to good works but to be careful that we are not working to "be Good". Oh, but how blessed it is to have another saint urge us on towards good works... To have just one who encourages others on towards a walk of obedience through God's Holy Spirit... In the world there are many people who look at Christianity and wonder if it could really make a difference in their lives. As we raise our children to be the next generation of vessels to be used of the Lord, we must teach them that Christianity is not just words, not just head knowledge, but is a lifestyle. A CHANGED lifestyle. Many sad and hurting people need to be given the HOPE of the Gospel which is that of SALVATION. When the world sees Christians as being no different from themselves, where is the hope? Where is the lifechanging example that we ought to be showing? By just having a gospel that is spoken rather than lived we demonstrate to the world and all heaven that the Gospel REALLY doesn't work. Only when we LIVE lives that are different from the world do we offer any HOPE! Hope that Christ DOES overcome the world. The way that we show the world we are different is by living obedient lives unto God's Holy Word. By being living examples just as our Lord was. If we do not follow His ways, how can we show the world the truth that He is indeed greater who lives in us than he that is in the world! 2 Peter 2:21 "For even hereunto were ye called; because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps." Let us follow Jesus. In our hearts, in our souls and in our minds. Let us being examples to our children that the Gospel truly makes us different from the world. We must not forget our true citizenship which is in heaven. We are aliens, sojourners here, and let us not become too comfortable as we live in the world. We have been commanded to not be OF the world. And if the world labels us wrongly as "legalists" because we truly are simply trying to obey our Lord's teachings, remember the Words: "Yea, and all that will live Godly in Christ Jesus SHALL suffer persecution..." 2 Timothy 3:12.