There’s a basic difference between the person who’s following Christ and the person who isn’t following Christ. Both of them still sin. Both of them still have a sinful nature. The person who isn’t following Christ loves the sin, and takes the side of sin and oppose God. As a result, this person dreads God. The person who is following Christ takes God’s side against those sins.

We Christians sometimes get all mixed up on works. Some try to do works to please God–to earn salvation. Others try to do works to pay God back for the fact that God has forgiven them, yet, God says that those works are filthy rags–not much of a gift. Still others don’t think that works are important, since whatever sin they are doing is going to be forgiven anyway. Sometimes, they say that they have the righteousness of Christ imparted to them in a way that doesn’t show in their actions. God says, ”

“The difference between an unconverted man and a converted man is not that one sins and the other does not; but that the one takes part with his cherished sins against a dreaded God, and the other takes part with a reconciled God against his hated sins.” William Arnot

There’s a basic difference between the person who is following Christ and the person who isn’t following Christ. Both of them still sin. Both of them still have a sinful nature. The person who isn’t following Christ loves the sin, and takes the side of sin and oppose God. As a result, this person dreads God. The person who is following Christ takes God’s side against those sins.

We Christians sometimes get all mixed up on works. Some try to do works to please God. Others try to do works to pay God back for the fact that God has forgiven them. Still others don’t think that works are important, since whatever sin they are doing is going to be forgiven anyway. None of these is right.

Works must proceed from God. He must be the One Who initiates them. He must be the One Who does them. That is what happens by grace through faith. God tells us, through Scripture, that it is His grace that does the works. God tells us, through Scripture, that faith gives us access into this grace. God tells us, through Scripture, that faith comes by hearing God’s rhema. Rhema is a Greek word that means utterance. It’s the utterance of God. While Scripture is the utterance of God, Scripture also mentions several ways that God speaks to us. We call this being led by the Spirit. When we obey Christ, we are keeping pace with the Spirit. However, the only way that we can obey is to first acknowledge Christ and then yield to the Spirit of Christ so that God can do His works through us. We Christians do this all the time without really thinking much about what has happened. We pray about something. Suddenly, we know what we’re supposed to do. When we turn to do it, the doors open for us and we find a sense of having done the will of God. Yet, pride doesn’t flood in. We feel humbled and we feel as if we have yielded to the Spirit of God that that God deserves all the glory.” (1 John 3:7) Yet, Paul said that he didn’t frustrate the grace of God. What did Paul mean?

Works must proceed from God. He must be the One Who initiates them. He must be the One Who does them. That is what happens by grace through faith. God tells us, through Scripture, that it is His grace that does the works. God tells us, through Scripture, that faith gives us access into this grace. God tells us, through Scripture, that faith comes by hearing God’s rhema. Rhema is a Greek word that means utterance. It’s the utterance of God. While Scripture is the utterance of God, Scripture also mentions several ways that God speaks to us. We call this being led by the Spirit. When we obey Christ, we are keeping pace with the Spirit. However, the only way that we can obey is to first acknowledge Christ and then yield to the Spirit of Christ so that God can do His works through us. We Christians do this all the time without really thinking much about what has happened. We pray about something. Suddenly, we know what we’re supposed to do. When we turn to do it, the doors open for us and we find a sense of having done the will of God. Yet, pride doesn’t flood in. We feel humbled and we feel as if we have yielded to the Spirit of God that that God deserves all the glory.

We are saved from sin. We are saved to good works. Good works come from our good God. We are His yielded vessels through whom He can move and work. If we resist Him, He will forgive, but we must not resist Him. There are consequences. When God leads and then does His works through us, this is righteousness. It’s not our own righteousness. It’s the imparted righteousness of Christ. Righteousness leads to holiness. Holiness is a condition of being like Christ. It’s a condition of having Christ formed in you and in me. We are encouraged to build Christ up. As we build Christ up, we die to the old Adam, the fleshly person. The flesh has less influence. The Holy Spirit has more influence. Some of the old sins that so easily tempted us begin to drop away. However, the opposite is also true. If we willingly sin, we become more enslaved by sin. We are set free from the Holy Spirit. What good does that do us? Satan promises satisfaction, but he never delivers. “I shall be satisfied when I awake in Thy likeness.” Psalm 17:15