1. Can anyone have a legit relationship with God apart from His Law?
The answer is a resounding NO!
That would be like someone boasting they have a relationship with God based on lawlessness… or based on disobedience.
It’s unbelievable how loosely some “professing” Christians throw this absurd idea around without realizing what they are actually advocating. OBEDIENCE to His Law “is” the Father’s WILL for all of us. It’s really that simple. God really WANTS US to obey Him.
2. Can anyone have a LEGIT relationship with God WITHOUT Loving Him?
The answer is also a resounding NO!
That would be like someone going around claiming to have a LOVELESS relationship with God. The idea is absolutely ridiculous!
How does God define Love?
1 John 5:3 – For “THIS IS” The Love of God, that WE KEEP His Commandments.
If this ISN’T the kind of love you are loving God with, then YOU AREN’T loving God based on His standard of Love, but rather on yours- which is then, left wanting.
3. Can anyone have a true and honest TWO-WAY relationship with God- or with anyone else for that matter, WITHOUT truly KNOWING them?
This answer too, is also a resounding NO!
That would be equal to someone saying THEY DON’T know God, but still boast of having A CLOSE relationship with Him. From a distance, that idea fails the smell test and is outright laughable. It’s contradictory to itself.
How does God’s word say WE CAN BE ASSURED that we KNOW Him?
1 John 2:3 – Now by this WE KNOW that we know Him, if WE KEEP His Commandments.
1 John 2:4 – He who says, “I know Him,” AND DOES NOT keep His Commandments, IS A LIAR, AND THE TRUTH IS NOT IN HIM.
STRONG WORDS, but VERY EXPLICIT.
To have a LEGIT relationship with God, we must KNOW Him, we must LOVE Him, and we must BE WILLING TO OBEY Him.
So, there’s NO WAY AROUND His Holy Law.
His Law is the ACID TEST that QUALIFIES each part of the relationship- KNOWING Him, LOVING Him, and OBEYING Him. And WITHOUT this relationship with the Father, YOU WON’T enter His Kingdom. Christ, says so!
Notice how Christ paints a very grim and somber picture in this end-time prophecy when He will be faced with these, “In the name of Jesus” modern-day Christians, who are ATTEMPTING to qualify their case based exclusively on a PERCEIVED relationship with Him, APART from God’s Law:
Mat 7:21 – “NOT EVERYONE who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, BUT HE “Who Does” THE WILL of My Father in heaven.
Mat 7:22 – Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied IN YOUR NAME, cast out demons IN YOUR NAME, (bound Satan IN YOUR NAME) and done many wonders IN YOUR NAME?’
Mat 7:23 – And then I (Jesus) will declare to them, ‘I NEVER KNEW YOU; depart from Me, you who PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS!’
So, this proves that all along, in spite of all their hyped pretensions, they never even had a true and legit relationship WITH EITHER the Father or His Son.
What disqualifies them? Lawlessness! A complete disregard for God’s Law.