“So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” (Romans 8:12-14 NASB1995)

Many people today are teaching a half-truth (lie) gospel which is being produced via blending truth and lies together, and via taking Scriptures out of their correct biblical context to make them teach what they do not say if taught in the appropriate biblical context. They appear as truth, because the statements used are quoted from the Scriptures. But when deliberately used out of context they can teach what is false, and much of this is being done today deliberately by “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” out to deceive the people.

Many are teaching that a verbal confession of Christ as Lord is enough to secure them salvation from sin and eternal life with God, regardless of how they live, even if they continue living in deliberate and habitual sin against God. They teach that no works are required of them, while they claim that their inheritance with God is still guaranteed. And they don’t believe that their habitual disobedience and the ignoring of God’s commands will ever separate them from Christ, since they claim to be of faith in Jesus Christ.

And, yes, it is true that salvation, i.e. deliverance from sin’s control over our lives, is by the grace of God, through God-gifted faith in Christ, and is not of human flesh, not by the works of the flesh. But “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10). And God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives (Titus 2:11-14).

And faith is the Greek word “pistis” which means faith, faithfulness, fidelity, pledge, persuasion, and moral conviction of God’s truth. For the believer in Jesus Christ it means to be persuaded of God as to his righteousness and holiness, and of our sinfulness, and of our need to die to sin and to obey God and his commands (New Covenant), by the grace of God, in the power of God. For this faith comes from God, and it is not of ourselves, so it is divine persuasion as to what God prefers which is the persuasion of the will of God.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

And we learn in 1 John 1-3 that if we claim that we have fellowship with God, but yet we walk in darkness (sin), we are liars. If we claim that we know God, but we do not obey his commandments, in practice, we are liars. For it is not the one who claims he is “in Christ” who is “in Christ,” but it is the one who has denied self, died with Christ to sin, and who is now walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in practice, and no longer in sin. We have the hope and the promise of eternal life with God in heaven.

So, this is what it looks like if we believe in Jesus Christ in truth. It is not something produced by a profession of faith only, which does not result in biblical repentance, dying to sin daily, by the Spirit, and walking in obedience to our Lord’s commands. And “In Christ” means we have died with him to sin and we are now walking in obedience to his commands, in his power. It doesn’t make us perfect, but if sin is what we practice, and if obedience to God is not our practice, we will not have salvation and eternal life with God.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

Realizing

An Original Work / May 14, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Realizing what He did for you
Should cause you to walk with Him in truth.
Trust in Him to be your Lord today.
Turn from sin; obey without delay.

Realizing He died on a tree,
So that from sin you could be set free,
Should bring you down upon bended knee,
Repentant; humbly; submissively.

Realizing that He loves us so,
Which is why, to the cross He did go,
Is what leads us to salvation free,
Through our faith in Jesus Christ our King.

False Gospel vs True Gospel
An Original Work / March 1, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love