A common doctrine I’ve noticed spreading in online forums and churches today is the belief that, since we are under grace, we are no longer required to confess and forsake our sins or to keep God's commandments. I would like to stress that this is a doctrine of devils being parroted by individuals who are not of genuine faith and/or have a limited knowledge of scripture or who, through the love of sin, have deceived themselves and are now deceiving others.

Paul addressed this false doctrine: “What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” (Romans 6:15-18 ESV)

John also discussed this at length: “Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” (1 John 3:4-10 ESV)

Finally, our Lord Jesus gave many warnings: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 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. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matthew 7:24-27 ESV)

Those of us who are saved by our faith in Christ are called to be disciples of Jesus Christ. We are to recognise Christ as Lord and make him the centre of our lives. We are to be walking by every word that comes from the mouth of God. We are to vehemently seek God’s Word and Will. We are to keep a close relationship with God through constant prayer. We are to fear God and keep His commandments, repenting of our sins. We are to resist the temptations that the devil puts before us, to the glory of God. We are to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. We are to love others as we love ourselves. We are to exude love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We are to give willingly, cheerfully, and freely. We are to be bold as lions. We are to be ready to forsake everything that we have, including, if necessary, our very family, for the sake of God.