YesToTheTruth: the grace of God

Showing posts with label the grace of God. Show all posts

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Saved From What?

We understand getting saved out of a bad relationship, out of a bad job, out of a bad deal, etc. And we don't suppose we keep on living with the reality of these things once we get saved out of them. It's clear what we get saved from.

But when it comes to the salvation that Jesus came into the world to bring, most preachers don't get as precise as they should about what that salvation is about. It's not some magical thing that we need to believe that we have received because we have been told some true facts about Jesus and have believed them. It's practical, as much as salvation from a bad relationship, a bad job or a bad deal. It's even all of those things! We get saved from something and that thing is sin.

Matthew 1:21
And she [Mary] shall bring forth a son, and you shall call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

It's only with craftiness that false teachers can get away with leading people to understand that sin goes on in the life of the saved believer as much as the person who is not saved. And things like the following are standard ways of thinking among believers who are "saved by grace" under the deception of false teachers:

-we are all sinners
-there is no one righteous, no, not one
-we sin every day, in thought, word and deed
-nobody can stop sinning
-if we say we have no sin, we are liars (implying that we are sinners on active duty and should be honest and admit that)
-we are "saved sinners" (in contrast to "lost sinners")

And these mindsets are reinforced by preaching that "our past, present and future sins are forgiven at the cross." Although that can be found nowhere in the Bible, it's a smooth line for a salesperson to use when he is trying to make you "buy" something. And that something is bad news, not the Gospel (Good News) of Jesus that saves (sets free) from sin. The bad news passes as good news and everyone is left with the understanding that sin continues to have power over the saved person as much as the unsaved (lost) person. But that is totally a contradiction to what God gives his grace for:

Titus 2:11-14
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people, 12 instructing us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly desires, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age; 13 looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ; 14 who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all lawlessness, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.

Romans 6:12-14
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 Neither present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under the law, but under grace.

So, when we understand that we are saved by grace through faith, not of ourselves - it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9), let's also understand how that grace of God is supposed to work and what effect it should produce in the life of someone who has received it. It's an empowerment from God that brings salvation from sin (Titus 2:11).

Now sin should be properly understood as disobedience to God, and sinning presumptuously is an expression of not loving God (being in rebellion against God, not being fully surrendered to Him), because Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). We also know that the wages of sin is death and that's the bad news in relation to the Good News of God's gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23). So, being saved and continuing to sin can only go together if the grace of God has first been twisted to be understood as something that it is not. See the warning in Jude 1:4 about those who pervert the grace of God. Don't be ignorant that such people exist and are called great men and women of God by many. Don't be deceived by them, the Bible warns. Denying that Jesus saves a person from a life of ongoing sin (that's what his salvation is about) is denying Jesus and having no faith to be saved in fact.

Basically, sin is a death trap and we would do well to see it that way. If we see it that way, then it's very hard to realize that we are on a path of practicing sin like that's what we were born to do and think that we are saved somehow. If we are born with such a problem, then Jesus says we must be born again (John 3:3)! We cannot entertain either what is also sold as "eternal security" right inside the death trap of sin! Anyone who commits sin is a slave of sin as Jesus taught (sin has power over that person to keep him/her as a slave):

John 8:34-36
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 A slave does not live in the house forever. A son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

The salvation Jesus brought into the world is freedom from sin. It's freedom from a relationship with the devil (that's a bad relationship); it's freedom from being a slave of the devil and working for him/being his servant/doing his will on earth (that's a bad job); it's freedom from a deal that promises the ability to enjoy the "pleasures" of sin and not die like the devil had deceived Eve to believe (that's a bad deal).

Jesus' salvation removes a person from the broad road that leads to destruction and places that person on the narrow/constricted path that leads to eternal life. It's a walk that begins and eternal life is the end of it.

Matthew 7:13-14
13 Enter in by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter in by it. 14 But narrow is the gate, and narrow/constricted is the way that leads to [eternal] life and few are those who find it.

But the false ministers of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:13-15) along with those who follow them will just disregard Jesus' teaching here and jump to another teaching that's supposed to make that one disappear. Ex: "Truly, truly, I say to you, He that believes in me has eternal life" (John 6:47). So, that's taken to mean that there is no need to walk the walk on the narrow/constricted way to eternal life (Matthew 7:14). No need to heed that word that says, "Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in, and will not be able" (Luke 13:24). But that is not so. These words of the Lord must be heeded!

Two points need to be highlighted:

1. Believing implies being a disciple of the Lord Jesus who hears his voice and follows Him as his sheep (John 10:27, Acts 11:26, John 8:31-32); He leads his sheep in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake (Psalm 23:3), never the paths of sin that leads to death. See: Faith Implies Obedience.

2. Eternal life is a gift we can now receive by faith as it is a promise to those who are abiding in Jesus (faithfully obeying Him). See: Eternal Life - By Faith Now.

God's will is for people to be saved out of the snare of the devil that keeps them bound as his slaves to do his works of unrighteousness / iniquity (lawlessness) in their own lives to destroy themselves as well as to be used as accessories to make other people sin and miss eternal life (to put it mildly).

1 John 3:6-8
6 Whoever abides in Him [Jesus] does not sin. Whoever sins hasn’t seen Him, neither known Him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. The one who does righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. 8 The one who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil.

Acts 20:15-21
“Then I [Paul] asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me.

2 Timothy 2:24-26
24 The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but be gentle towards all, able to teach, patient, 25 in gentleness correcting those who oppose him: perhaps God may give them repentance leading to a full knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may recover themselves out of the devil’s snare, having been taken captive by him to his will.

See also:
Are You an Ex-Sinner Calling yourself a Sinner?

Crucify the Flesh (Youtube playlist)

Freedom From Sin

Can You Lose Your Salvation?

What does "by grace are you saved through faith" (Ephesians 2:8) really mean?

Is Repentance Just a Change of Mind?

Struggle with Sin and Double-Mindedness

Self-denial and Taking up One's Cross to Follow Jesus (Mark 8:34)

Salvation From Sin

Insulting the Spirit of Grace

Eternal Life - By Faith Now

Eternal life is something you can receive by faith now, just like when you ask something in prayer you can receive it by faith before it's in your hands (ex: Mark 11:24). A high school graduate can see himself as a doctor at the moment of being admitted to medical school but still has to go through medical school and study hard. Believers in Jesus likewise must walk on the path to enter eternal life. They must walk faithfully on that path that starts with their repentance and faith in Jesus which means faithfully following Him (obeying Him, doing what He says - Luke 6:46).

This scripture talks about those who refuse to repent versus those who do repent and walk on the way they are supposed to walk on as the grace of God empowers them (Titus 2:11-14):

Romans 2:4-11
4 Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are storing up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; 6 who “will pay back to everyone according to their works:” 7 to those who by perseverance in good works seek glory and honor and immortality -- eternal life. 8 But to those who are self-seeking, and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness -- wrath and anger, 9 affliction and distress, on every human being who does evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 10 But glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God.

We are saved in hope:

Romans 8:24-25
24 For we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees? 25 But if we hope for that which we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

That's because no one has inherited eternal life yet. But by faith we can lay hold on it (1 Timothy 6:12, 19). It can be say of those who are really laying hold on eternal life (not still sinning), that they "have eternal life" (1 John 5:13) by faith, even now.

Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is being confident of what we hope for, being convinced about things we do not see.

The walk to eternal life starts with repentance and faith in Jesus:

Acts 20:20-21
20 [You know] how I did not hold back from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

It's important to keep one's mind on the things above, not the things of the earth (sin included):

Colossians 3:1-8
1 If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, your life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with him in glory. 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever is worldly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. 7 You also once walked in those, when you lived in them [past tense]; 8 but now you also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and shameful speaking out of your mouth.

No one who gets entangled with the things of the earth that are passing away, and who is gratifying the sinful desires of the flesh and has not put the flesh to death, qcan suppose him/herself to have anything called "eternal security" or to be secure in his/her salvation and be on course to enter the kingdom of God (compare 2 Peter 1:2-11).

A person who gets saved (from sin) must keep on walking on the right path that will lead to eternal life in the age to come (Luke 18:30):

Matthew 7:13-14
13 “Enter in by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter in by it. 14 How narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way that leads to [eternal] life. Few are those who find it.

People who start on that path called “the way of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:21) when they are saved from sin are said to be like a dog that returns to its vomit if they go back to sin and leave that way of righteousness (2 Peter 2:22). That means eternal life was ahead of them as long as they were remaining on the way of righteousness, but that’s no longer the case once they leave that way.

So, salvation from sin begins now, when someone becomes a follower of Jesus (again, no longer a follower of the sinful passions of the flesh). But there is a final stage of salvation where the believers in Jesus will receive new immortal bodies that no one has experienced yet (1 Corinthians 15:52-54). And the way to experience it and be saved when all is said and done is simply for someone who is righteous (1 John 3:7), who has been saved by grace (referring to salvation from sin), to remain faithful to Jesus while walking on the difficult way to eternal life (Matthew 7:14). Going back to sin is unfaithfulness towards God, and that's a way that leads to perdition, not eternal life (Hebrews 10:38-39). Faith (cf. definition in the first paragraph) then keeps someone's relationship with God growing. But sin will finally break that relationship if warnings to repent are not heeded.

See also:
Can You Lose Your Salvation?
Repentance According to the Bible
The Essence of Faith
Saved From What?

Monday, July 1, 2019

Can You Lose Your Salvation?

This question can be asked another way:

Can you take your life back after you had given it to Jesus?

No big theology is needed to understand having a relationship with God based on love and walking with Him faithfully. It's basically a marriage.

1 Corinthians 6:17

But the one who is united with the Lord is one spirit with him.

There is no salvation or assurance of salvation on any other path. It takes the faithfulness of two who are married to enjoy the blessedness of growing old together as lifetime partners, for instance. Likewise, God who is faithful expects the faithfulness of his servants. They cannot go their own way and expect to be ushered into the eternal kingdom of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:11). They are expected to walk a certain way that the grace of God empowers them to. When they walk that way, they prove their faith in God (James 2:26). Living righteously and godly (Titus 2:11-14) after having escaped the corruption that is in the world (2 Peter 1:4) is the way that is pleasing to God.

2 Peter 1:2-11

2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust [evil desires]. 5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. 10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you will never fall; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Jesus requires a commitment to Him and his ways to be his disciple:

Mark 8:34-37

34 He called the crowd to himself with his disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; and whoever will lose his life for my sake and the sake of the Good News will save it. 36 For what does it profit a person to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? 37 For what will a person give in exchange for his soul?

Jesus is saying, Give your life to me (let it go, lose it) and that's the way to be saved and inherit eternal life. Forget what you have (Luke 14:33), who you think you are, what you have accomplished, your own will (Luke 9:23), what you think you know (Philippians 3:8), for the sake of coming to the knowledge of the Father and the Son and have eternal life (John 17:3).

Once you do that, you are following Jesus and not living for yourself and giving your life to sin anymore. You turn away from that path of sin that leads to death (Romans 6:23), and don't go back to it. You set your affection on eternal life (Colossians 3:2) and all things that pertain to the way to it, which is called "the way of righteousness" (2 Peter 2:21).

2 Timothy 2:19

However God’s firm foundation stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let every one who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.”

Jesus promised eternal life to no one who would not become his disciple and remain faithful to Him as a disciple. If people are thus committed to Him, eternal life is ahead of them in the age to come (Luke 18:30) as long as they are remaining on the way of righteousness. But that’s no longer the case if they leave that difficult way to eternal life (Matthew 7:14) and go back to living in sin.

Two ways to choose from:

Matthew 7:13-14

13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to [eternal] life, and there are few who find it.

Saturday, March 30, 2019

The Essence of Faith

This post is an answer to the saying that "1 Corinthians 15:1-4 is the Gospel" while twisting the scripture. The aim is to show what believing in Jesus for salvation is about (according to the Bible).

1 Corinthians 15:1-5
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.

Believing the facts of 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 is not having the faith that saves. If that were the case, one could have nothing to do with what Jesus has spoken over the time of his ministry on earth and that is recorded for us in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, but we all very much do. The key is here: if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain (v. 2). Is that "word" just the facts listed in verses 3 and 4 of the above passage? Don't ignore the "first of all" in verse 3, which points to the basics of the Christian faith.

But believing for salvation implies "doing" all of what Jesus has sent his disciples to teach to others to do themselves in order to be on the way to eternal life, entering that narrow door and walking on that narrow/constricted path (cf. Matthew 7:13-14, Luke 13:23-24). These are some of Jesus' last words to his apostles:

Matthew 28:19-20
19 Therefore go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to obey all things that I commanded you. And look, I am with you every day, even to the end of the age.

Faith implies obedience to Jesus' commandments (not the keeping of the Law of Moses given to the Israelites — no need to get into the "not of works" argument). A believer becomes a disciple, a follower of his master Jesus, and that's what a Christian is:
Acts 11:25-26
25 Barnabas went out to Tarsus to look for Saul. 26 When he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. It happened, that for a whole year they were gathered together with the church, and taught many people. The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

You have a choice here to believe that the facts of 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 are all that these disciples were taught. But that's not the case.

Paul himself left a record of what he taught to both Jews and Gentiles. Let's call this one Exhibit A:
Acts 20-20-21
(... you know...) 20 how I did not hold back from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks (Gentiles) 1) repentance toward God, and 2) faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

And this one Exhibit B:
Acts 26:19-21
19 “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. 20 First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. 21 That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me.

Be sure that Paul preached the above to the Corinthians while he was with them:
Acts 18:9-11
9 The Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent; 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many people in this city." 11 He lived there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

The purpose of his letters to them was to strengthen them and to correct them. There is nothing needing to be corrected if someone just believes what 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 says. But the Christians in Corinth needed to be strengthened on how to walk with God, understanding well what the walk of a believer/disciple is all about, especially in an environment full of false teachers passing as "men of God" (cf. Acts 20:29-31; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15). We are still in that perilous environment today and it is worse!

Notice two key things in what the apostle Paul taught: 1) repentance which is how one gets reconciled to God, forgiven of past sins and given a clean slate with God on the merit of Jesus' blood; and 2) faith in Jesus. Both of these things have been under attack by Satan for 2000 years now. You must be diligent about standing on the truth concerning these things.

Now some words from Jesus:
Luke 6:46
Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?

John 14:15, 21
15 If you love me, keep my commandments.
21 He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me: and he that loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

John 12:46-48
46 I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in the darkness. 47 And if anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

//Comment: Jesus' words are not just true facts that He was speaking. He was giving instructions to those who were his disciples who trusted, loved and followed Him faithfully. They followed Him by obeying his word.

48 He who rejects me, and does not accept my words, has one who judges him. The word that I spoke will judge him on the last day.

John 8:31-36
31 Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed him, “If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples. 32 You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will be made free?’”

//Comment: This same unbelief is in Christians who do not believe that what they call "salvation" is about being set free from their sins [video link], not just forgiven their past sins up to the point of coming to Jesus and hearing "I forgive you, now go and sin no more" (cf. John 8:11). See Romans 6:16-18 and Acts 3:22-26 also.

34 Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 A slave does not live in the house forever. A son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Now we can have Christians ("believers") who are still in bondage to sin, still not set free by the Son (saved), and believing anything a false teacher will say as a lie on top of a lie.

John 8:12
Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”

To follow Jesus is doing something. It's a work of faith. The Bible says this:
"For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (James 2:26).

Galatians 5:6
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.

A parallel to the above is 1 Corinthians 7:19:
Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God [is what matters].

All throughout the Bible, faith moves people to act in obedience to God (Hebrews 11 gives several examples). It's never about "trusting" in what was done and doing nothing.

James 1:21-25
21 Therefore, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be DOERS of the word, and NOT ONLY HEARERS, deluding your own selves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect Law of freedom, and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this person will be blessed in what he does.

1 John 2:3-4
3 This is how we know that we know Him: if we keep his commandments. 4 One who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

1 John 5:3
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous.

Don't fear to do what God expects you to do as a believer/disciple of Jesus. How do you or do you even have to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12) when your salvation hangs only on believing the facts of 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 and doing nothing? There is nothing to fear about these basic facts ever changing:
* Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures
* He was buried
* He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures

Believers/disciples of Jesus obey Him; believing/having faith in Jesus means obeying Him as One who is trusted, loved, and worthy to be followed to death!

Here is John 3:36 making the parallel clear:
"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him."

John 3:36 is not a contradiction to John 3:16 that everyone knows:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

Matthew 7:21-29
21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will tell me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did not we prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?’ 23 And then I will tell them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.’* 24 “Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, will be compared to a wise man, who built his house on a rock. 25 And the rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine, and does not do them will be like a foolish man, who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.” 28 And it happened, when Jesus had finished saying these things, that the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he taught them with authority, and not like their scribes.

* Practicing lawlessness is going on sinning "under grace," in contradiction to Romans 6:1-2, Romans 6:12-15, 1 John 3:6, 1 John 3:9, 1 John 2:29 for instance. It's receiving the grace of God in vain or to no effect. In fact, it's the believing in vain as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:2.

The grace of God is so described:
Titus 2:11-14
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

The above is about the walk of faith that Jesus calls us to. His words are the foundation for that walk of faith. I pray you receive those scriptures for what they say. Repentance itself, as the other side of the coin, is another critical teaching under massive attack.