God's goal for every person has never changed and never shall change. The Divine goal can never be expressed more accurately than in Micah 6:8.

The problem with today's preaching is that we have changed the goal. The goal no longer is to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. It is to get to Heaven the cheapest, easiest way possible.

We have not been commanded to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God in order to go to Heaven. We are to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God in order to be pleasing to the Father and to have fellowship with Him. No creature ever will be pleasing to the Father and have fellowship with Him by mercy, grace, or any other device, only by doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God.

"Ah, Brother, these ideas are nice but I am saved by grace." Nonsense. You are not saved by grace, you have been deceived by a false teaching of grace. Did you think God has changed His mind?

The present teaching of Divine grace is a muddle of historic proportions.

Let's look at the Divine goals in another way. They are that people behave righteously, that they be holy in thought, speech, and action, and that they be sternly obedient to God.

Righteousness is probably the main subject of both Testaments and means fair, upright dealing with other people. The righteous individual is honest, honorable, faithful in his commitments, truthful in his statements.

Holiness has to do with our relationship to God. All people are to be fully righteous but the level of holiness has to do with our calling. The closer to God we are being drawn the holier are the demands on us. Aaron was more holy than the rest of the priests who were more holy than the Levites who were more holy than the rest of Israel.

Kohath didn't like this but it was true. No man takes the honor of the royal priesthood to himself. Holiness has to do with the calling of God.

Holiness has to do with freedom from unclean spirits.

Righteousness, holiness, and then the third aspect of the Divine goal, which is stern obedience to the Father. It is fashionable in Evangelical circles to declare that no one can obey God or keep the commandments of Christ. If there ever was a lie from the Pit this is it. We are able to keep God's written or personal Word if we will come boldly to the Throne of grace and obtain help in our time of need. But when we continue in disobedience we are regarded as rebellious children.

Today Divine grace is presented as the alternative to obeying God. Can you imagine the moral and spiritual havoc this doctrine has caused?

Righteous behavior. Freedom from uncleanness of thought, speech, and action. Strict obedience to God. These goal are unchanging from eternity to eternity. They never have changed, they are not changed in the present hour, they never shall be changed!

The changes from covenant to covenant are never in God's goals but in the Divine grace (enablement) provided by the Lord and also in the degree of attainment of the goal that is being required.

Under the old covenant the Jews learned righteousness from the Law. They learned about holiness from the Law. They learned what God wanted them to do from the Law and from their prophets. Then they had to do this in their own strength.

To be continued.