Category: works-religion

Liberated to Serve

Saturday, July 4, 2026 🇺🇸

“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13 KJV).

Today, as we in the United States celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation’s independence, we invite our Christian brethren worldwide to rejoice with us concerning our freedom in Jesus Christ.

When we proclaim Romans 6:14—“Ye are not under the law, but under grace”—people tend to assume “loose living.” Does “grace living” really mean we can now live any way we want? Lest anyone be misled in that regard, God the Holy Spirit moved the Apostle Paul to write in the next verse, “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid [May God never let that happen!]” (Romans 6:15). Grace living is not Law-keeping, but it certainly is not Law-breaking either.

God still cares how we live, albeit He is not operating the “weak and beggarly” system of “bondage” (Law) that He once did with Israel (Galatians 4:9). God proved to the entire world that since Israel could not keep His commandments perfectly, no other sons of Adam (the Gentiles) could either: “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them [Israel] who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world [Gentiles] may become guilty before God” (Romans 3:19).

We sinners cannot keep the Law. However, God in His grace provided us a way to escape that condemnation by sending Jesus Christ to offer Himself on Calvary’s cruel cross to pay for our sins. By simple faith in Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection as the fully-satisfying payment for our sins, we can now be “made the righteousness of God in [Christ]” (2 Corinthians 5:21). We can be delivered from the penalty of sin (hell and the lake of fire) and the power of sin (flesh-walking).

Why are we Christians free? To selfishly live any way we want? NO! Today’s Scripture says we are liberated to now serve others, especially our Christian brethren, just as Jesus Christ selflessly served His Father and selflessly died on our behalf. That is grace living!!!!

Please see our 2011 Fourth of July Bible study “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land,” which can be watched here or read here.

The Spiritual Dexterity of Our Physical Posterity #39

Saturday, June 27, 2026

“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word” (Psalm 119:9 KJV).

If our physical posterity could augment its spiritual dexterity, exactly what would that entail?

The Corinthians were childish Christians, their spiritual growth and development stunted because (like so many now) they did not follow the Pauline design for the edification of the believer in Romans 16:25,26. Wherefore, the Holy Spirit cautioned them in 1 Corinthians 10:1-14. To repeat Israel’s sins of lusting after evil things (verse 6), being idolatrous (verse 7), committing fornication (verse 8), tempting/challenging Christ (verse 9), and murmuring/complaining (verse 10), would surely result in becoming a “castaway,” a Christian whose service God rejects (1 Corinthians 9:27). The Corinthians were to be mindful of the evil world system around them, and walk by faith in the principles of grace as found in Romans to Philemon (Paul’s ministry, Christ’s heavenly ministry).

Whereas the Corinthians were the “lascivious” (loose, wild, crazy) group, the Galatians were the “ascetic” (strict, pious, self-righteous) crowd: both are the two extremes of human (sin) nature. Galatians 3:1-3 explains the predicament of the immature Christians of Galatia: “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” Paul had preached to the Galatians with great clarity all about Christ’s finished crosswork (grace). Nevertheless, after listening to false teachers (Mosaic-Law-based doctrine), these saints of Galatia imagined their “flesh” (human performance) could somehow enhance or supplement the Holy Spirit’s work. This is works-religion, as in, “I can live the Christian life by keeping commandments, I am able to ‘help’ the Holy Spirit, I can work to earn/merit God’s favor.” Like their Corinthian brethren, the Galatians were incorporating junk material into their inner man. It was not Christ’s life, but Adam’s life. Even though it was Scripture (the Law of Moses), it was not Scripture “rightly divided” (2 Timothy 2:15).

Instead of being a “castaway” (1 Corinthians 9:27), we need to be approved unto God….

The Spiritual Dexterity of Our Physical Posterity #32

Friday, June 19, 2026

“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word” (Psalm 119:9 KJV).

If our physical posterity could augment its spiritual dexterity, exactly what would that entail?

Since the vast majority of church-goers (wrongly) assume they can live the Christian life (“I am trying my best to live for God!”), non-Christians deduce Christianity is “just another religion.” What a shame! The Bible simply does not get a fair hearing because the Holy Spirit is prohibited from teaching and Jesus Christ is prevented from living His life. Professing Christians are teaching what they want, and living how they please, so Satan’s policy of evil stays unabated—and non-Christians are absolutely turned off to faith in Christ because Christians themselves are not trusting Christ! Dear young reader, if we want to make a difference in this world for God’s glory, we must depend on the Lord’s wisdom and the Lord’s power; human wisdom and human effort are not Christian living, but Adamic living.

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4). “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16). “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;…” (Ephesians 5:18,19). “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness…. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:10,14).

No amount of works-religion or law-based efforts will ever compare to this true Christian living….

The Spiritual Dexterity of Our Physical Posterity #28

Monday, June 15, 2026

“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word” (Psalm 119:9 KJV).

If our physical posterity could augment its spiritual dexterity, exactly what would that entail?

According to Romans chapter 6, Calvary’s cross is the foundation for victorious Christian/grace living. It is where Christ performed and finished His work to pay for our sins—so we could die with Him to sin’s power, be buried with Him, and be raised again with Him to “walk in newness of life.” “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” (verses 11,12). “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (verse 23).

Yet, two groups converted under Paul’s ministry believed they could live the Christian life. Defined in Romans chapter 7, Paul himself had been confused in this way—and how he was such a defeated, disappointed, depressed soul! He did not walk according to the grace truths of chapter 6, and the only way out of the trap was to re-learn them as presented and amplified in chapter 8: “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify [put to death] the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:12-14).

Human nature, the sin nature we have inherited from Adam, has two extremes. One is lasciviousness, as in loose, crazy, wild conduct (humanism/philosophy)—and that would be the Corinthians who lived in the very depths of sin. The other is ascetism, which is strict works-religion or legalism (Law)—and that would be the Galatians who lived in the very depths of self-righteousness. Both groups were stuck in the misery and hopelessness of Romans chapter 7, trying and failing to copy Jesus Christ’s life when only He can live the Christian (His) life!

To repeat, victorious Christian living or grace living is Romans truth, found in Paul’s most basic epistle….

The Spiritual Dexterity of Our Physical Posterity #19

Saturday, June 6, 2026

“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word” (Psalm 119:9 KJV).

If our physical posterity could augment its spiritual dexterity, exactly what would that entail?

Draw your attention to the fig-leaf aprons of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:7—their religious efforts or futile attempts to regain the spiritual light of God (righteousness) that once covered their now-naked bodies. After works-religion proved unsuccessful, they again evaded accountability by hiding from God (Genesis 3:8-10). Finally, after the LORD exposed and confronted them, Adam shifted the blame to Eve (thereby indirectly accusing God who gave him Eve—“God created me this way!”), then Eve shifted the guilt to the serpent (“the Devil made me do it!”) (Genesis 3:11-13).

Here is human psychology 101. Such a scenario has played out trillions of times since then. Firstly, do whatever you can to cover up your sin. Secondly, hide when that cover-up demonstrates itself useless. Finally, dodge the liability altogether by blaming God or Satan. Man goes to great lengths to justify himself, to declare himself righteous, as he in his pride has no use for God’s standard of righteousness that he has failed so miserably to meet. See, the Bible takes a negative view of man, for it tells the truth about him: that Book of God has embarrassed him! Hence, man in his feebleness aspires to ignore the Scriptures, challenge them, discredit them, change them, and so on, to clear himself. In willfully neglecting to admit his inability to save himself, man is further fallen into the snare or trap of the Devil.

The grace of God is the only thing that can deliver man from satanic captivity and spiritual nakedness, so God works to restore man to himself: “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). Such shedding of animals’ blood, innocent beings taking the place of guilty ones, is a type or hint or preview of the cross of Calvary 4,000 years in advance. However, on this side of the cross, where God has dealt with sin once for all, there is still cover-up and denial (works-religion), hiding, and blame-shifting.

May we submit to the righteousness of God by faith….

The Greatest War Hero

Monday, May 25, 2026

“For God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 KJV).

In the United States, today is Memorial Day, when we remember those who sacrificed their time and lives to provide our physical freedom. Likewise, as Christians, we have spiritual freedom, which was more costly. Someone had to die to give us the eternal life we now enjoy….

Scripture describes a spiritual warfare between good and evil, God’s truth program versus Satan’s lie program: “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles [schemes] of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:11,12; see also verses 13-20).

Satan distracts mankind from God’s pure Word, the Bible, keeping unbelievers lost (dead in their sins), and preventing unbelievers and Christians from knowing God’s will. The devil draws them away (seduces them) from God’s Word by using religious tradition and human “wisdom” (1 Timothy 4:1-3; cf. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Galatians 3:1-3).

God loves us, so at Calvary’s cross, Christ fought for us sinners, died in battle (today’s Scripture), shed His divine sinless blood, and eternally rescued us from Satan and sin: “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:14,15).

Hebrews 9:12 says Jesus Christ has “obtained eternal redemption for us.”

If we have trusted Jesus Christ alone as our personal Saviour, God “hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Colossians 1:13). Now, God can use us for His glory for all eternity.

Beloved, let us rejoice in our victory over sin, death, and hell that Jesus Christ secured for us by going to Calvary’s rugged cross! Jesus Christ is now alive forevermore—He is our Hero, the Greatest Hero!

*Adapted from a larger Bible study “The Greatest Hero,” which can be read here or watched here.

To Kneel or Not to Kneel in Prayer? #6

Tuesday, April 28, 2026

“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,…” (Ephesians 3:14 KJV).

Does today’s Scripture insinuate the “proper posture of prayer” is kneeling?

Friend, if you want to kneel to pray, raise your hands to pray, bow your head to pray, or close your eyes to pray, that is your business, but do not expect God to smile upon you more or give you what you want simply because of such positions or movements. Also, keep this in mind: it does not make you “more spiritual” or “better” than someone who does not kneel to pray, who does not raise their hands to pray, who does not bow their head to pray, and who does not close their eyes to pray. Do not be sucked into the trap of formalism. Posture can be—and has been—faked in religion for thousands of years. Kneeling does not automatically equate to humility or spirituality, just as standing does not necessarily mean arrogance or worldliness.

Whether you get down on your knees, or lift your hands, or bow your head, or close your eyes… it makes no difference to God when you pray. We should pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17)—so that means prayer is far more than physical posture, for it is absolutely impossible to always have eyes closed, always have heads bowed, always have hands up, and always have knees down. How your outward body is positioned in prayer is totally irrelevant. What matters is the inner man. Is faith or unbelief guiding you? Is it done in Bible understanding or Bible ignorance?

Pour out your soul before the LORD, as Hannah did in 1 Samuel 1:15, talk to Him in light of what He told you in His rightly divided Word. If the Word of Christ dwells in us richly in all wisdom (Colossians 3:16), then pouring out our heart before the LORD will reinforce in our minds what He has said to us. This is what is pleasing to Him. If we do not know His words to us, then we had better get over to Romans to Philemon and start reading and believing, so we can drive out the superstition, foolishness, carnality, childishness, and darkness that so easily beset us during prayer-time!

To Kneel or Not to Kneel in Prayer? #5

Monday, April 27, 2026

“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,…” (Ephesians 3:14 KJV).

Does today’s Scripture insinuate the “proper posture of prayer” is kneeling?

A seminary-educated preacher and teacher/professor once proposed that more Christian people needed to get down on their knees while they prayed. What that poor brother did not learn from his so-called “Christian institution of high learning” was edification in sound Bible doctrine and admonition about formalism (making a big deal about outward appearance, form, ceremony, rite, ritual).

“Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias [Isaiah 29:13] prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:7-9; cf. Mark 7:6,7). If you carefully read these contexts, you will notice substantial religious busyness in Judaism—especially assorted washings of hands, cups, pots, brazen vessels, and tables (Mark 7:3,4,8). It was a stunning spectacle that seemed to foster wholesomeness or purity. However, they were neglecting their filthy, sinful hearts of unbelief, recognizing no need to seek God so He could clean these (Matthew 23:25-33). Whether Isaiah’s time, or Christ’s earthly ministry 700 years later, lost Jews sang psalms and talked about “God” (“This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips”), but there was no corresponding heart of faith (“but their heart is far from me”). Undoubtedly, countless Christ-rejecting Jews were on their knees too, praying this and praying that. Mere form means nothing, but underlying doctrine does!

It is not arrogant to pray while standing, just as it is not necessarily humble to pray while kneeling. Moreover, we should “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). It is impossible to kneel constantly. After all, we do have to sleep, walk, drive vehicles, and work a job! To reduce prayer to a mere physical position, to assert “the proper posture of prayer is kneeling,” is to advertise Bible ignorance. Prayer is simply talking to God in light of His words to us (and this we should always do), and we do not have to speak audibly either. There is no requirement to kneel, close our eyes, or lift up our hands….

To Kneel or Not to Kneel in Prayer? #4

Sunday, April 26, 2026

“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,…” (Ephesians 3:14 KJV).

Does today’s Scripture insinuate the “proper posture of prayer” is kneeling?

The Lord Jesus did not care if someone chose to pray while standing. He actually instructed His disciples, “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses” (Mark 11:25). In fact, if we are going to assert the “best” praying is done on our knees, we might as well stop advertising our Bible ignorance and start expelling it!

For those who never cease saying, “We need to follow Jesus,” they may find it interesting that when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane just moments before His arrest and hours before His crucifixion, not only did He kneel (Luke 22:41), He “fell on his face” (Matthew 26:39) and He even “fell on the ground” (Mark 14:35). Therefore, if we are going to commend ourselves as “spiritual” for kneeling, we might as well go all the way and put our face to the ground too! Or, better yet, we should be entirely prostrate on the floor—the lowest possible position (short of burial)! Do they want to “follow Jesus” here? Probably not!

Moreover, yet again, we ask: does lowly physical posture equate to worship of God? No. Over a decade ago, I witnessed such hypocrisy at the last denominational church I ever attended. For approximately two years, one deacon went forward at “invitation time” and either walked to stand with the pastor or went over to the front pew and knelt before it to pray. Later, another deacon of the congregation explained to me that that was a performance that the pastor had devised to entice people to get up and “walk the aisle.” The deacon talking to me stated how he had refused to go along with the charade, but that the other deacon did not mind parading himself with his “fair [beautiful] shew in the flesh” (Galatians 6:12). Such was not faith but denominational tomfoolery. There was a lowly physical position, but no humility.

We must see prayer as God Himself does….

To Kneel or Not to Kneel in Prayer? #3

Saturday, April 25, 2026

“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,…” (Ephesians 3:14 KJV).

Does today’s Scripture insinuate the “proper posture of prayer” is kneeling?

If one argues that kneeling to pray is somehow “more spiritual” than standing to pray, he or she encounters difficulties in the Bible. For instance, Hannah, the mother of Prophet-Priest-Judge Samuel, stated this to Priest Eli: “Oh my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the LORD” (1 Samuel 1:26). She prayed while standing—and, if you read the context, she was anything but arrogant.

Luke chapter 18, verses 9-14, poses another obstacle for someone who insists prayer should be done kneeling: “And he [Jesus Christ] spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased [lowered]; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

Both Pharisee (self-righteous religious snob) and publican (humble tax-collector) stood as they prayed in the Jerusalem Temple. Jesus never made any critical remark about physical posture. Instead, He pinpointed how the attitude of both men was the significant issue. The Pharisee bragged about his works and how he was “superior” to others, whereas the publican confessed his sin problem and recognized his entrance into God’s presence was only because of the animal blood applied on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant. Christ declared the publican “justified,” right in God’s sight, even though the man stood to pray! What mattered was the posture of the inner man, and only the publican met God’s standard of righteousness there….