Lies Christians Believe #1 ~ “My actions do not affect my relationship with God or His view of me.”

It’s been on my heart for a while now to expose some of the lies that Christians believe. I hope to write about several of them in the next month or so as the Lord allows. I enjoy having an outlet for my study and this is an important subject with eternal consequence.

Truth is a Person. To embrace a lie of any sort grieves the Spirit of Truth and causes some degree of division between ourselves and the Person of Truth - Jesus.

Lies cannot be separated from unbelief and sinful conduct. How we believe will determine our actions. So, believing a lie will lead to “living a lie.”

Lie #1 - “My actions do not affect my relationship with God or His view of me because I am righteous in Christ.”

The implication of such a statement is huge! To say that our actions do not change our relationship with Christ or His view of us is to declare that what we do does not matter at all. That is the logical conclusion of this lie. If our actions do not change God’s view of us then God doesn’t CARE what we do. In that case God would cease to be holy.

To some of you this is an obvious lie but I have been surprised to hear some Christians saying such things boldly. Many live like they believe this lie whether they will admit to it or not. I want to list a number of Scriptures that very clearly prove that this is a lie and a doctrine of demons that leads men to Hell.

Note: These are passages about Old and New Testament believers. These are examples of believers whose relationship with God was greatly altered, some to their eternal ruin, by their actions. Here is just a sampling from Scripture:

1. Genesis 3:1-5 - Satan questions the consequences for disobeying God. He was the first to promote this foul doctrine of our disobedience not affecting our relationship with God. “Ye shall not surely die” is still at the heart of this lie today.

2. 1 Samuel 15:16-29 - Saul lost his right to be king because of a partial disobedience. God “rejected” Saul from being king because of his disobedience. God’s view of Saul was greatly altered through his disobedience.

3. God’s covenant with Israel in the OT was completely conditional on the obedience or disobedience of Israel. If they obeyed, they were blessed. If they disobeyed, they were punished till they repented or were destroyed. The whole Old Testament gives us a story full of God’s dealings with HIS people. Many who once believed in God were cast away because of their disobedience. God says in Isaiah 59:2 that the people have caused a separation between themselves and God because of their disobedience.

4. Matthew 7:21 clearly tells us that it isn’t those who have a profession of faith that will be saved (“Lord, Lord”) but he that DOES the will of the Father.

5. Matthew 12:36-37 says that we will be judged, not by our profession of faith in Christ, but by our words. We will by “justified” or “condemned” by our words.

6. In Matthew 25 Jesus tells us that those who showed kindness to the least of His brethren would be saved on Judgment day. It was what they DID or DID NOT DO that determined their eternal destiny.

7. Jesus tells us in John 15:2 and 6 that those branches “in Him” that do not bear fruit are taken away and cast into the fire (Hell). If this were referring to unbelievers, it would not say that they were “in Him.” Neither would it say that they will be “taken away.” There is no need to take something away from the vine if it was never connected in the first place.

8. Acts 5 tells us that two people lied to God and were struck dead. These were believers who had been washed in Christ’s blood but they chose to disobey. Their disobedience was eternally destructive for them.

9. Hebrews 6:4-6 describes people who have been enlightened, tasted of the Heavenly gift, partaken of the Holy Spirit, have tasted the word of God and of good things to come. There is no way to get around the fact that the writer is describing Christians. But they fell away! You can’t fall away from something that you were never joined to. Chapter 10 tells us that we can willfully sin ourselves into a position where we are deserving of the judgement of God.

10. Revelation 2-3 shows us that disobedience leads to the Holy Spirit being removed (removal of the candlestick) and even being vomited out of Jesus mouth. Their disobedience would not end well.

The Bible is full of these passages! And yet people insist that they are safe in Christ, regardless of their actions, because they are born again.

We need to examine the premise that is used to justify this lie. But I think it is best covered in another note about the true nature of grace. It is clear however that our actions do affect how God views us and how we relate to Him. God may continue to love us when we disobey, but He is not pleased. The following verses show us that we cannot claim to be righteous or like Christ if we do not DO righteousness through His grace.

1Jn 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 

1Jn 3:7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 

1Jn 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

And finally, consider the words of Peter:
"And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:" 1Pe 1:17