K128. Did Jesus teach us who is the real enemy? Is it law or is it grace?

Many have preached that law is a person or grace is a person. Some may even go in great length to say that law is an 'enemy'. I will answer them, Yes, I have a story about law as a person and grace as a person too; but they can never be our enemies. They are our allies (or schoolmasters - see Gal 3:24,25). And they look at each other as their allies too. It means that 'law' and 'grace' could fight together as allies and they may both have a common enemy (lawlessness). But before I will share with you my story about them as a people or allies later at the end of this post, we will now explore more from the Bible and know what the Lord will say about law and grace.

Did Jesus tell us to hate law and love grace, or vice versa? No, Jesus did tell us that we cannot serve two masters (together): God and mammon. He did tell us to choose between God and mammon; but He did not tell us to choose between God's law and God's grace. What does it mean? It means God and Mammon or God and idols are mutually exclusive; but law and grace are not. Men or sinners must all know the law of God to appreciate grace; but lawless men will just want to 'enjoy' grace without knowing any law (often end up thinking of grace without turning away from sin).
If we are not the dummies who never read the Bible, we should know that Paul did not tell us to hate the law and love grace too. Yes, he did say that we, the Gentiles, are not under the law to do the laws of the Jews or the law of Moses, but Paul would still say that we are still under the law of the New Covenant or the law of Christ to do the laws of God too:
1Co 9:21 KJV  To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.
Yes, Paul did tell us (in Gal 3:10, 13) that we are redeemed from the curse of the law (of the old covenant); but he did not say that we are totally redeemed from all the law of God under the new covenant:
Heb 10:16-31 KJV  This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them ..  ..  (20) By a new and living way .. (23)  Let us hold fast the profession of our faith .. .. (24) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works .. .. (26)  For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins ..  (28) He that despised Moses' law died without mercy.. (29) Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?  (30)  For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.  (31)  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Many believers would just want to read only Heb 10:16 and think that that is the New Covenant. But do we know that ALL the Bible verses in Heb 10:16-31 are about the New Covenant too? God's words show us that the New Covenant has God's laws and judgement for His people too !
   
The real enemy or real problem will reveal itself in the last days
Hence, we do not go around and preach a grace revolution or grace based gospel which teaches the people to hate law and love grace. We do not preach law vs grace. The real issue is not law, grace, or the mixture. The real enemy is certainly not the law and grace of God. I will show you later why law, grace, and the mixture are not our real problem today.
But, if law and grace are not our enemy, who is the real enemy whom Jesus and Paul preached strongly against? No prize for guessing it correctly - The answer is lawlessness. It could be a 'faceless' enemy regardless of whether 'he' is a real person or not. Law is from God; but lawlessness is from Satan.
Mat 7:23 LITV  And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; "depart from Me, those working lawlessness!"
2Th 2:7 LITV  For the mystery of lawlessness already is working, only he is holding back now, until it comes out of the midst.

Law can never be our real enemy or problem
Now, why do I say that law can never be our enemy? Before I reason with more Bible verses, common sense again: What is lawlessness? Isn't it the absence of law? Hence, if the absence of law will cause lawlessness, chaos, or confusion which is our real enemy, it is quite impossible for law and order to be our enemy, especially if the law and order is based on the law of God.
If we read the Bible, we should know that one of the characteristics or attributes of God is love. Hence, if God is love, His law or command for us to love or to do good can never be wrong. But, the absence of His law or command to love will bring godlessness, lawlessness, or hypocrisy. Hence, how can law, if it is from the law of God, be our enemy?
Many may argue, "But why are there times when the Bible 'seems' to tell us that law is evil, law is from the Pharisees, law is hypocritical, and law is our enemy? Why did Paul tell us to turn away from the law?"
I will tell them, WHAT? NO MORE LAW? Did you read your Bible?
Who is the real culprit or the real enemy? Ironically, many lawless men will come in the end time and preach 'secretly' in our churches that law or something else is the main culprit when they themselves are the 'secret' culprits. Law can only become the enemy when lawlessness comes into our churches secretly or when lawless men secretly turn the virtue of God's laws in our churches to work for themselves or for their own selfish desires. For example, the law to love and give is a good law which should benefit everybody as there will be equal sharing and noble sharing of tangible things as well as intangible things. However, if this law falls into the hands of the lawless men, it can be turned into something which works only for the lawless or the ungodly. The law may still be the same law to love and give but it may become something evil because of its use by the lawless men or selfish Pharisees who used it to do their lawlessness. This has happened to God's laws in the Old Testament. It will happen again in the New Testament:
Mat 7:22-23 LITV  Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many works of power?  (23)  And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; "depart from Me, those working lawlessness!"
Hence, strictly speaking, law is good, but there are circumstances when law becomes evil simply because of lawlessness or lawless men, but the real enemy is not law. Hence, it is unjust to say that law or any law is our enemy, especially if it is God's law. Hence, if we must judge to set the  innocent people free, we do not judge the law; we judge lawlessness or the lawless men who turn the law of God to their own advantage or to benefit their own selfish desires.
Many will still argue, "No, we do not judge anyone or anything. We judge nothing. So, we are more gracious than those who always judge." Many preachers are thinking that, if they judge nothing, they would not be judged. But, unknowingly they have judged.
I will tell them, "Do you know that you have already judged by taking the irresponsible position to judge nothing. If you know that there are lawlessness or lawless ones in your churches and you choose to judge nothing, you have judged yourselves or judge the law. Do you know that it is impossible for God's preachers not to judge? If all God's preachers choose to say nothing about the evil or the wicked, how can they still be God's preachers? They would all become motivational speakers. However, God's preachers must know how to judge. If they have problem judging, they should at least pray that they will learn how to judge rightly according to the words of God.
Many will still argue, "But Jesus told us that if we judge, we will be judged. We should not judge (Mat 7:1-3); otherwise we judge the law (Jas 4:11)".
I will tell them, Please read your Bible again, especially if you are the preachers. Jesus did not say that you should not judge at all, even if you see wickedness or lawlessness. Jesus did not want us to judge our fellow preachers or the godly people with the 'wrong lenses' or 'blocked vision':
Mat 7:1-3 KJV  Judge not, that ye be not judged.  (2)  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.  (3)  And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Besides, what's wrong if we were judged? If we are responsible preachers and we judge rightly, we will be judged rightly too. Hence, true God's preacher are not afraid to judge anyone and be judged by anyone. God's preachers can never be cowards who would just want to 'play safe', 'act cool', and judge nothing in front of all wicked people or wickedness.
I will tell them, You quoted Jas 4:11 and said that you have not judged the law. But do you know that you have judged the law when you spoke evil of His law, refused to judge your fellow brothers justly, or falsely accuse all the godly who keep His law?
Jas 4:11-17 KJV  Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge .. .. (16)  But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.  (17)  Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
Do you know that you have judged the law when you take the 'sit-on-the-fence' position not to judge anything or any wickedness too? When you are supposed to judge as God's preachers, and yet you do not judge, you have indeed judged the law of God (as void or irrelevant to the people). You have sinned (v17) or judged like the Pharisees who would never be the doer of the law:
Mar 7:11-13 KJV  But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.  (12)  And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother;  (13)  Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
I will tell them one more thing, Did you read Jas 4:16 above? Do you rejoice in your boasting and become proud of your own lawless preaching, lawless revolution, or lawless philosophy? Trust James, he said that "all such rejoicing is evil". When he said "evil", it means "evil".

Grace can never be our real enemy or problem too
Of course, I do not have to say much to convince you that grace is not our enemy too. Grace is not our enemy not because it is God; but because it is a gift of God. If it is a gift of God, we do not worship it; we just receive it. Like law, it can be an enemy only when the lawless one turns it into lasciviousness or something to tempt the people. Yes, I would say that law and grace, including any gifts of God, can be turned into something which 'seems' evil and cause the people to fall. Hence, it is unjust to say that grace or any grace is our enemy too.

Mixture of law and grace may not our real enemy too
Many may ask me, "If both the law and the grace of God are not your enemies, who is your real enemy? Isn't the mixture of law and grace the real enemy because Jesus condemned or judged the lukewarm people who are neither hot nor cold? "
I will tell them, The lukewarm believers or churches were judged not because they had the mixture of law and grace; but because they had lukewarm behaviour. I had explain it in my previous posts, so I do not wish to repeat it here.
Many will press on and say, "However, what is the real problem in our churches today? Who are the real enemies? If those who preach the law of God and those who preach grace are not the real enemies, who are the real enemies?"
I will tell them, I have already quoted the Bible verses which show clearly that lawlessness is the real culprit earlier on. I will show you a simple illustration or metaphor about the law, grace, and the mixture as three parties or persons and how we should understand why many things which we see today are not caused by what seems to appear on the surface. We have to explore further to find out who is the real culprit or enemy. I am going to tell a story below but please take note that this is just a hypothetical case or a metaphor which describes a real situation:

Law, grace, mixture, and the enemy - who is the real culprit?
If 'grace' or 'wisdom' is a person (not God), we may say that the 'law' and the 'mixture' could be the other two persons too.
Hence, in the kingdom of God somewhere in time and space, there was a 'nation' where the 'laws' and 'graces' were living together. They were the two major 'races' in the kingdom of God:
1. one 'race' was under the law with the people like Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Samuel, David, Daniel, Jeremiah,  .., and Malachi (who were mostly trained under the local schoolmasters)
2. another 'race' was under grace with the people like Matthew, Luke, Mark, John, Peter, Acts, Jude, Timothy .. (they were mostly educated young adults who migrated from other nations)
They were all recognized as the 'citizen' of the kingdom of God, not based on 'race', but based on grace. Since they had been living together for ages, they multiplied and had many 'descendants' who are called 'sound doctrines'. However, their descendants were always ridiculed as the 'mixture' by the people outside the nation.
The people of the nation seemed to be able to live peaceably with one another for a long time, until one fine day a riot broke out. The people in both sides or both 'races' started to become suspicious of one another. The older 'race' who had stayed longer in the nation started to think that the younger 'race' had not been doing enough to save their children who died in the riot. Similarly, the younger 'race' started to think that the older 'race' was judgemental and were the trouble-makers who would like to find faults with others. The suspicion between both races escalated until someone stepped out and pointed out that what they both saw was false. The truth was: someone from outside the nation came in secretly to instigate and do great damage to the unity of both 'races'. It turned out that the real enemy was not from within their 'races'; but from outside the nation.
Does this story or illustration sound familiar to you? Yes, this is my story adapted from a recent movie which I watched together with my wife - the name of that movie was '1965' . It was a non-Christian production with a small cast from a small nation, but it has a great story which unfolds its historical event and teaches us to keep calm and think soberly even in the midst of conflicts, revolutions, and riots. After watching the movie, we should know why it is so important to know the real enemy and not to do wild guesses or speculations. My wife watched and cried like a baby; but I watched and realised the seriousness of being fooled by a 'faceless enemy' (which happened to be lawlessness also in this story or event).
Please watch the movie if you can, and you will understand why I use this metaphor or story to describe the real situation in our churches today. Yes, it may be good to become spiritual about many things in our churches or real life; but not to the extent of becoming 'hyper spiritual' or doing things at the expense of sound thinking and sound judgement. When we are too hyper (radical) in our own thinking or judgement, we may become blind to the schemes, sabotage, and manipulation of our real enemy in our physical world, as well as our spiritual world. So, beware. 

'Law' and 'grace' were two 'people' who lived peaceably until ..
Many may still argue and say, "Your crazy story or illustration is not real. Hence, it is not applicable to us. It does not teach us anything."
I will tell them, Of course, my story is not real; but it is not crazy. It will show real people how to treasure their law and order during peaceful time and also teach them how to keep calm and think soberly in the midst of conflicts, revolutions, and riots.
Yes, my story is certainly not about the real people; it is about doctrine, testaments, or covenants - the New and the Old. They have been staying together as one 'nation' or one 'people' (one  Bible) for ages and even centuries, peaceably, and nobody could separate them. However, recently, there is a new doctrine or revolution (ironically, it is from the 'old enemy'). It is an 'easy-believism' which will breakdown the 'multi-racialism' and cause many 'conflicts, revolutions, and riots' in the teaching of God's doctrine today. Many knew that 'he' was a new doctrine or a 'new visitor' but no one knew that 'he' was an 'enemy' until very recently. A thorough check on 'his' background has shown that he is the 'mysterious intruder' which may cause even more harm to the 'races' ('law' and 'grace') in the kingdom of God. Hence, how my story will continue from here now will depend on how well the 'races' ('law' and 'grace') and the descendants of the 'races' (the doctrine) will respond to the warning about this 'real enemy' who will come against the kingdom of God:
2Th 2:5-12 LITV  Do you not remember that I told you these things, I yet being with you?  (6)  And now you know the thing holding back, for him to be revealed in his time.  (7)  For the mystery of lawlessness already is working, only he is holding back now, until it comes out of the midst.  (8)  And then "the Lawless One" will be revealed, "whom" "the Lord" "will consume" "by the spirit of His mouth," and will bring to nought by the brightness of His presence. Isa. 11:4  (9)  His coming is according to the working of Satan in all power and miraculous signs and lying wonders,  (10)  and in all deceit of unrighteousness in those being lost, because they did not receive the love of the truth in order for them to be saved.  (11)  And because of this, God will send to them a working of error, for them to believe the lie,  (12)  that all may be judged, those not believing the truth, but who have delighted in unrighteousness.
Hence, I am pretty sure that 'lawlessness' or 'the lawless one' is not a physical enemy; but a 'faceless' enemy or spirit which will haunt all the people or 'races' in the kingdom of God.

How do we settle conflicts when there seems to be differences in two schools of thoughts?
We don't add 'fuels' to flame it; but we resolve it by drawing reasons objectively from both sides and showing what the Bible has got to say about the issue. Basically, there are two approaches when there seems to be conflicts in the Bible verses and explanations on something that is fundamentally important to our Christian belief eg. salvation:
1. Radical approach - The people who teach with the radical approach (or 'hyper' approach) will say that we must adopt only one approach or their approach; for example, when the Bible says that we will be saved,
1. if we repent in Acts 2:38, and
2. if we will confess with our mouth in Rom 10:9,
Now guess which approach the radical people will adopt? Of course, It is very likely their radical approach which will tell the people to just confess with their mouth only as this approach will appeal to the most people
2. Balanced approach - However, I like to adopt a more 'balanced' approach, i.e. we are saved
1. if we repent AND
2. if we confess with our mouth according to the words of God.
I will never tell people to just confess it and full stop. If we study the words of God diligently, 'repentance' and 'confession' are NOT two mutually exclusive words in the Bible. They are always together even though sometimes only one is mentioned explicitly in a passage; but the context would clearly indicate that both are present. Many argue that 1 John 1:9 mentioned about confessing of sins only and therefore it is not applicable to the believers. However, it is actually about repentance too. If repentance is for everyone, how can we say that 1 John 1:9 is for only a certain group of sinners or believers outside our churches. Hence, it is time for us to know and teach why doctrine can still be very important in our churches even though it does not save us.

In the end time, believers will still fight over 'Repentance' and 'grace'
Now common sense again, can we split repentance and forgiveness, and preach them separately? Can we preach one without the other? No, the gospel would be incomplete if there is only repentance, or only forgiveness. If we deliberately or radically preach an incomplete gospel for our popularity, prosperity, philosophical argument, or other hidden motives, we become the false prophets. 
In the last days, many will take the radical approach. They will fight and argue on many things. They will preach 'repentance vs grace (forgiveness)'. Like the people who argue and preach 'law vs grace', they will just want to argue with God's preachers who keep the commandments of God and Jesus Christ. Some preachers find that arguing and finding fault with others and with God's laws or God's principles will give them the cutting edge to elevate themselves so that they can accuse those who do not preach radically or 'purely' like them. They may claim that they are the 'pure' preachers or the only preachers who can preach right believing. Hence, they will 'smite' others with their hyper views, misleading doctrine, twisted interpretation, manipulative words, and crafty accusation, and finally pass secret judgement or biased judgement against those who do not preach like them.
Mat 24:40-51 KJV  Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.  (41)  Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.  (42)  Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.  .. .. (48)  But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;  (49)  And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;  (50)  The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,  (51)  And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
However, the Lord has spoken clearly that the worst servant is the evil servant who smite the godly servants and then cowardly take side (or identify themselves) with the ungodly or the majority. I believe that this could be one type of 'lukewarm' behaviours which will become very prominent in the churches of the last days (Rev 3:14-22).
In that day, many preachers or servants of God will argue and deny that repentance, law, grace, and doctrine are all important to us. Yes, many can argue convincingly and say anything they like, but have they checked their Bible and find out what Jesus said?
1. Many may argue, "We do repent daily but repentance is not something which can save us!"
2. They may say, "We receive grace daily but grace is not something which can save us!"
3. They may even say, "Jesus is the only one who can really save us because nothing else can save us"
4. They can say many things which can save them ...
But, all these are not important. They are just their sayings. What is important is: What will Jesus say in that day? He says that our fruits will tell (Mat 7:15-24). Our fruits will tell whether we are saved.
Mat 7:20-23 KJV  Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.  (21)  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.  (22)  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?

Many have denied themselves the true repentance by thinking that they have already believed or that they are too righteous to repent
Hence, some believers or preachers do not only need to just believe more or repent like the prodigal son; they need to do more. They need to repent from their hypocrisy, pride, selfishness, lawlessness, or wicked ways. I believe that Jesus would not just want the lukewarm to change their minds and believe only. He commanded the lukewarm to wake up and repent; or else they would perish. Hence, repentance to the lukewarm people must involve turning away from their wicked ways. Hence, we can never be saved by keep confessing that we are better than them or we are more righteous than them. Jesus would still want those who think that they can never fall to repent from their pride and their self-righteousness too:
Luk 13:2-3 KJV  And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?  (3)  I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
If even Peter, one of His most faithful disciples, could fall and Jesus would still want him to learn the humble lesson not to boast about himself, who are we to tell others that we can never fall?
Mar 14:29-31 KJV  But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I.  (30)  And Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.  (31)  But he spake the more vehemently, If I should die with thee, I will not deny thee in any wise. Likewise also said they all.

The spirits of frog, lukewarmness, and lawlessness will start to flow into the West when that 'river' is dried up (by corrupted doctrine)
Rev 16:12-14 KJV  And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates (Asia); and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.  (13)  And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.  (14)  For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
Did we read God's clear warning? The spirits of the 'frogs' from the river Euphrates or the East will rise after the river which divides the East from the West is dried up. This is certainly an end time event because only the spirits of Satan, the beast, and the false prophets are powerful enough to muster such a huge attack on God's people. The spirits of corruption must flow into the 'mainstream' first before they could turn many other countries into a lawless kingdom and influence their lawmakers or governments to depart from God's laws, legalize their abortion of babies, and justify all their lawless people who 'marry' or live like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. When we start to see it happening in our own country, we are not far from the countdown for the end time.
Many will argue vehemently that they can never be filled with the spirits of the frogs or lawlessness because they have never said anything against God's laws. However, by saying nothing, preaching nothing, or sitting on the fence in such a time as this, they have not only denied the law of God; they have denied Jesus Christ too. Jesus will spue them out of His mouth (Rev 3:16) because they could be the people or preachers who could do something in such a time as this; but they chose to say nothing, do nothing, sit on the fence, and become lukewarm. Mordecai did warn Esther that she must not behave or act like the hot and cold people; or else she and her household would likewise perish:
Est 4:13-14 KJV  Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews.  (14)  For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

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