| April 20, 2002 |
 |
 |
 |
| "Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand." Ezekiel 3:20 This verse has been used to argue that a believer can fall from grace. Galatians 5:4 is the only place where you will find the expression ". . .fallen from grace." There it is not speaking of salvation but of those who have been saved by grace but have fallen down to a legal level and are attempting to live by the law instead of living by grace. The great teaching of Galatians is that we are saved by grace and are to live by grace. Here in Ezekiel we have found a man who is living under the time of the law. His life was determined by righteous acts. Under normal circumstances the righteous acts he might perform might look very good. But under time of stress and strain he might turn from God, and he would be judged for it. We are not to construe that he was once saved. He will be tested at the end of his life as to whether he is a child of God or not. Today, we are living under grace, and righteousness is determined in a little different way. We are constituted righteous by faith in Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace through faith. In Romans 4:5 we are told "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." The true believer today may fall into sin, but he will not deliberately practice and live in sin: "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin . . ." (John 3:9). If a believer falls into sin, a gracious provision is made ~ we have an Advocate with the Father, and we can come to Him in confession of our sins. May the goodness and love of the Lord be in and with you always. Love in Christ Jesus, Sandy |