Pastor James answers
Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. (James 1:22-27)
Are there action words here?
Doers of the word, not hearers only.
Looks into the perfect law of liberty (walking according to the Holy Spirit is the law of liberty) and continues therein.
Bridles his tongue.
Visits the fatherless and widows.
Keeps himself unspotted from the world.
Why does Satan stress the "Jesus did it all" doctrine? It is because Satan knows that God will not work with sinning people, only with people who are confessing and repenting of their sins and vigorously and diligently obeying the commands of the Lord and His Apostles. Satan seeks to remove our anointing and our shield of protection by enticing us to sin, deceiving us by whispering that we do not have to resist sin because "Jesus did it all."
The eternal law of God regarding holy, pure moral conduct is binding under the old covenant and also under the new—and upon all people alive on the earth. Even though we are under grace we cannot engage in immorality without being judged. Christ did not do away with the laws governing lustful behaviour, because all expressions of lust and perversion are the work of unclean spirits and therefore come under eternal judgment.
It is true, however, that the new covenant does not consist of resisting lust. The new covenant is the forming of Christ in us, and Christ cannot sin because He is the Nature and Substance of the almighty God.
In the meantime we must resist with all the determination and grace we possess, all forms of unlawful, immoral behaviour. The believer in Christ who is not resisting immorality, seeking help from the elders, studying the written Word, gathering with fervent saints, confessing his sins and repenting of them, will destroy his body, soul, and spirit and is in danger of the fiery judgment of God.
Contents
Righteous behaviour.
Righteous behaviour was very important under the old covenant and is very important under the new covenant. Righteous behaviour is required under both covenants, except that under the new covenant, persistence in righteous behaviour will lead finally to the indwelling of the Righteous One. When Christ comes to maturity in us we will act righteously by nature—by the new nature of Christ that has been formed in us.
We might say that the forming of Christ in us is the end of the commandments of the Apostles for everyone who obeys them, not meaning the termination of the commandments but the end result of keeping them.
Under the Law of Moses equitable, upright behaviour was enforced:
Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour. (Leviticus 19:15)
Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in met yard, in weight, or in measure. (Leviticus 19:35)
One of the most important statements of the Old Testament, although not part of the Torah but certainly of the spirit of the Torah, is as follows: He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to practice righteousness, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:8)
Under the new covenant, righteous behaviour is required.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. (Matthew 5:6)
The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew, Chapters Five through Seven) consists of laws of righteousness, laws of the Kingdom of God. We are taught by these laws how to serve God and how to live with other people. The laws of the Sermon on the Mount will be enforced throughout the earth during the Kingdom Age by the sons of God carrying the rod of iron.
All people, the elect and the members of the nations of the saved, must obey the laws given in the Sermon on the Mount. Since these laws are impossible apart from the indwelling Nature of Christ, all the citizens of the nations of the saved, although they are not members of the royal priesthood, must have a portion of Christ in them. Every individual who is saved into the eternal reign of Christ will have Christ in him because Christ in us is the Kingdom, the rule of God.
During the Kingdom Age, Satan and all other workers of iniquity will have been removed from the earth and it will be far easier to live righteously at that time than is true now.
Perhaps the expression hundredfold, sixtyfold, and thirtyfold (Matthew 13:8), refers respectively to the firstfruits of the Church (Revelation, Chapter 14), the balance of the Church, and then the members of the nations of the saved. The same design appears in the Tabernacle of the Congregation where we have the Most Holy Place, the Holy Place, and the Courtyard. Surrounding the Courtyard was the linen fence. Since the sparkling white linen of the fence symbolizes the Divine righteousness, it may be true that the three areas within the fence portray the firstfruits, the balance of the Church, and the nations of the saved, while all outside is unrighteous and therefore prohibited from entering the Presence of God. Righteousness and honesty in business were stressed in the old covenant.
But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. (Deuteronomy 25:15)
And are emphasized in the new:
Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. (Romans 12:17)