I don’t always take away the message our pastor delivers as he means for us to. Sometimes something he says piques my interest or resonates with something I’ve been curious about. Here is the passage of scripture he quoted from on Sunday.

This is what you must write to the angel of the church in Ephesus:

I am the one who holds the seven stars in my right hand, and I walk among the seven gold lampstands. Listen to what I say.

I know everything you have done, including your hard work and how you have endured. I know you won’t put up with anyone who is evil. When some people pretended to be apostles, you tested them and found out they were liars. You have endured and gone through hard times because of me, yet you have not given up. But I do have something against you! And it is this: You don’t have as much love as you used to. Think about where you have fallen from, and then turn back and do as you did at first. If you don’t turn back, I will come and take away your lampstand.

But there is one thing you are doing right. You hate what the Nicolaitans are doing, and so do I.

If you have ears, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will let everyone who wins the victory eat from the life-giving tree in God’s wonderful garden.‬‬

Revelation‬ ‭2‬:‭1‬-‭7‬ ‭CEV

Pastor Seth gave a brief description of what was wrong with the beliefs of the Nicolaitans and why God hated them. They took God’s message of grace and turned it into license to do what they wanted. Excluding themselves from punishment while living morally debased lives. That’s where I came up with the Christian Outlaws title.

An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law.

Wikipedia

My blog is called The Far Reaches of Grace and I have Grace tattooed on my shoulder. Grace is a big part of my message and beliefs. But can grace be taken too far? What about the belief of once saved always saved?

Let’s look at some scriptures.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.‬‬

Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭4‬-‭9‬ ‭ESV

So we know we can’t earn God’s grace by our actions, but can our actions diminish the benefits of his gift? Before we look at these questions, take a look at the preceding verses in Ephesians and what God’s grace is rescuing us from.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.‬‬

Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭ESV

This is why God hated the Nicolaitans. They continued in the very things Jesus had saved them from.

That brings to my mind questions about freedom, the law, and lawlessness. Here are some more verses to consider.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.‬‬

Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬, ‭13‬, ‭16‬-‭18‬ ‭NIV

In Galatians 5, Paul is talking about two types of slavery — slavery to follow the letter of the law, and slavery to our fleshly desires. Our freedom finds fruition when we are led by the Spirit. The payment required by God’s law, is completely covered by Jesus’ sacrificed life. The choice is still ours to accept or reject.

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?

Deuteronomy‬ ‭10‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

I’ve heard the illustration of salvation like being in a jail cell and Jesus unlocking the door. We choose to stay in what we know, or we walk out into freedom.

So until the revelation of faith for salvation was released, the law was a jailer, holding us as prisoners under lock and key until the “faith,” which was destined to be revealed, would set us free. The law was our guardian until Christ came so that we would be saved by faith. But now that faith has come we are no longer under the guardian of the law.

Galatians‬ ‭3‬:‭23‬-‭25‬ ‭TPT‬‬

This is a huge topic, and I apologize for the length of my post, in which I haven’t even answered all my questions. But it’s a good start and I hope you’ve gained some insight.

Grace & Peace,

Sandy

Image created in Canva.