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The Gospel Part 2: You Better Get It Right
Unsealed.org ^ | 7-22-15 | Gary

Posted on 08/17/2015 9:45:07 AM PDT by amessenger4god

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’" - Matthew 7:21-23

Brothers and sisters, it is seriously time to drop the works-righteousness.  Time is so short.  When you stand before the Lord don't for one second think you can offer your works as the admittance fee.  The deluded folks Jesus mentioned above did just that and were told that He never knew them.

Works-righteousness is something that I and almost every Christian I know falls into over and over again.  It goes something like this: Jesus died for me, but I have to hold me (truth: Philippians 1:6, John 6:39).  Jesus died for me, but I have to prove myself to Him.  Oh man of dust, how great do you think you are that somehow you can ever measure up to the standard of the holy and living God?  That arrogance is called self-righteousness, the very thing the Bible says will lead to death.

Understand that this issue is at the very heart of the Gospel and is the very heart of the Reformation.  It is a Catholic doctrine that you must somehow balance faith and works, as if Paul and James were not in agreement (they were in complete agreement: see here, here, here, here, and here).  Sadly many Evangelicals are taking the road paved by N.T. Wright right back to Rome.  I see many watchers doing the same thing.  You can't possibly balance faith and works.  It is either all grace or all works.  The only works you've ever done that have pleased God are the ones that came from your trust in the sufficiency of Christ's own work.

Good works will never come from your efforts to 1. prove yourself, 2. prove that you're saved, 3. atone for your sins, 4. save yourself.  These are rubbish works, which the Pharisees do.  Your job/your choice is simply to trust that Jesus died for your sins and rose gain and then not let go of this hope (see also here).  Forgiveness is not a debit card.  If you really believe that Jesus died for ALL of your sins and that you've been set free from sin and death and that you have a Heavenly Father who loves you unconditionally, you will:

1. Be saved.

2. Be extremely grateful.

3. Be extremely joyful.

4. Dance with all your might.

5. Love unconditionally because you know you were loved unconditionally.

If you still think that you are saved by grace + works, or mostly grace with a few works, or if you are just confused about what the Gospel is, I recommend you read Part One in this series.




TOPICS: Apologetics; Evangelical Christian; Theology
KEYWORDS: gracevsworks; jesus; salvation
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1 posted on 08/17/2015 9:45:08 AM PDT by amessenger4god
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To: amessenger4god
When you stand before the Lord don't for one second think you can offer your works as the admittance fee.

That's right. We better do the will of the Father instead, just like Jesus said. If we don't do the Father's will, we won't be allowed into the kingdom.
2 posted on 08/17/2015 9:53:19 AM PDT by LearsFool (Real men get their wives and children to heaven.)
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To: LearsFool; Alex Murphy; bkaycee; BlueDragon; boatbums; caww; CynicalBear; daniel1212; Dutchboy88; ..

And THAT is works righteousness.

We can’t do a THING to be allowed into the kingdom except throw ourselves on the mercy of God.

It’s ALL Christ and His righteousness credited to our account.

Jesus told us God’s will. Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Not a one of us can attain that. Not even close.

THAT is why Christ had to die for us.

The Law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.

God will not send the regenerate believer to hell. No Christian is going there.

But plenty of people who call themselves Christians and think they’re Christians because they do the do’s and don’t do the don’t’s, who are really trusting themselves, will be there.


3 posted on 08/17/2015 10:05:21 AM PDT by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
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To: amessenger4god
It is a Catholic doctrine that you must somehow balance faith and works

If we believe in God, then we must do what He asks us to do.

We must feed the hungry. Shelter the widow and orphan. Have mercy. Love God and our neighbor. Eat the Body of Christ. Drink the Blood of Christ. Baptize in the name of the Trinity. And so on.

This is not so hard. There is nothing perplexing about it.

Catholics do not expect to present their works to God in lieu of faith. They do them because they have faith - because God asks them to do these things.

If we claim to have faith and we do not do the will of God - of what use is our faith?

4 posted on 08/17/2015 10:07:39 AM PDT by agere_contra (Hamas has dug miles of tunnels - but no bomb-shelters.)
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To: metmom
Your dispute is with Jesus.

Jesus: "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."

Metmom: And THAT is works righteousness.
5 posted on 08/17/2015 10:12:23 AM PDT by LearsFool (Real men get their wives and children to heaven.)
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To: agere_contra

The Bible tells us so.

* Beatitudes and Woes (Luke: 6:20-26)

* 20 Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
22 “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile
you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.
23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in
heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.
24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
25 “Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.
“Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.
26 “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors
did to the false prophets.


6 posted on 08/17/2015 10:12:40 AM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: amessenger4god

And this is the problem with “Bumper Sticker Theology”. Easy beliverism, is not a path to heaven, but to perdition instead.


7 posted on 08/17/2015 10:23:53 AM PDT by verga (I might as well be playng chess with pigeons.)
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To: LearsFool

We are incapable of doing the works of God in and of ourselves.

We cannot do it, therefore, we need Christ and His imputed righteousness.


8 posted on 08/17/2015 10:26:13 AM PDT by metmom (...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
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To: metmom

....”It’s ALL Christ and His righteousness credited to our account”.....

What is it about “paid in full” some people don’t get? HE took it all or he took nothing at all....and then wiped the slate clean.

NOW...not sometime in the future, but now we are forgiven and God sees us through his son....like looking in a mirror seeing the face of Jesus.


9 posted on 08/17/2015 10:27:02 AM PDT by caww
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To: metmom

Jesus says one thing. You say another.

Which one should we believe?


10 posted on 08/17/2015 10:32:20 AM PDT by LearsFool (Real men get their wives and children to heaven.)
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To: metmom
We are incapable of doing the works of God in and of ourselves.

Yes, this is true.

The corollary is that we are capable of doing the works of God - if God is with us.

This is a very beautiful thing. We can be about our Father's business every day!

11 posted on 08/17/2015 10:38:10 AM PDT by agere_contra (Hamas has dug miles of tunnels - but no bomb-shelters.)
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To: amessenger4god
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.


 

John 6:28-29

Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”



12 posted on 08/17/2015 10:48:37 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: amessenger4god
 
 
 
 

 
Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.


John 6:28-29
Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?
 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."


1 John 3:21-23
Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.
And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.


James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
 

 
 
 

13 posted on 08/17/2015 10:49:20 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: agere_contra
We must feed the hungry. Shelter the widow and orphan. Have mercy. Love God and our neighbor. Eat the Body of Christ. Drink the Blood of Christ. Baptize in the name of the Trinity. And so on.


Acts 15

The Council at Jerusalem
 1 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. 3 The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad. 4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.

 5 Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”

 6 The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

 12 The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. 13 When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. 14 Simon[a] has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. 15 The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

 16 “‘After this I will return
   and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
   and I will restore it,
17 that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
   even all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things’[b]
 18 things known from long ago.[c]

 19 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. 21 For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

The Council’s Letter to Gentile Believers
 22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers. 23 With them they sent the following letter:

   The apostles and elders, your brothers,

   To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:

   Greetings.

 24 We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25 So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. 28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.

   Farewell.

 30 So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. 31 The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. 32 Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers. 33 After spending some time there, they were sent off by the believers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them. [34] [d] 35 But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord.

Disagreement Between Paul and Barnabas
 36 Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” 37 Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, 38 but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. 39 They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. 41 He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.
14 posted on 08/17/2015 10:50:44 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: LearsFool
Jesus says one thing.
15 posted on 08/17/2015 10:51:31 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: LearsFool

Where do you believe this division will occur, where Jesus says depart from me you workers of iniquity?


16 posted on 08/17/2015 10:52:41 AM PDT by MHGinTN (Is it really all relative, Mister Einstein?)
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To: metmom

Nothing has changed from Paul’s day. What Paul wrote of his fellow Jews remains true for much of the religious world in our day. They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. In their zeal they have attempted to establish a righteousness of their own through their works rather than submitting unto the righteousness of God. They don’t understand that He is our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30). They don’t see that anyone who wants to add to Him and His work doesn’t really trust Him. They don’t understand that the Bible makes it clear that grace and works cannot be mixed. It is either all of works or all of grace, it cannot be both (Romans 11:6).

Romans 10:1-11
10 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.

2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

5 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.

6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)

7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)

8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness!! I can’t open any man’s eyes to really see what that passage means, but I will pray the One who can would be pleased to do so.


17 posted on 08/17/2015 10:53:39 AM PDT by .45 Long Colt
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To: verga

How would you define the way to God?


18 posted on 08/17/2015 10:55:29 AM PDT by caww
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To: agere_contra
"We must feed the hungry. Shelter the widow and orphan. Have mercy. Love God and our neighbor. Eat the Body of Christ. Drink the Blood of Christ. Baptize in the name of the Trinity. And so on."

Aside from your doctrine of transubstantiation, I would agree with you.

...But here's the thing: the Biblical standard for those things is PERFECTION. In other words, not ONCE can you fail to do those things. Even the wrong motive would be considered failure.

James 2:10 - "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it."

Good luck being perfect aside from the righteousness of Christ.

An excerpt from "The Gospel Part One":

Consider the current Catholic system.  If you commit even once any one of these sins without confessing before death you have a one-way ticket to Gehenna whether you believe Jesus died for you or not.  In fact, every single time you commit a "mortal sin" in Catholicism you become unsaved and are "re-saved" upon confession and priestly pardon.  Notice that this process completely decouples forgiveness from faith in Jesus' finished work.  Instead, the Torah system of the endless sacrifices of bulls and goats is replaced with the Catholic system of the endless sacrifices of the Mass, and priestly confession, and other sacraments, because no one can truly live up to the Catholic standard just as no one could live up to the Levitical standard.

In light of the Catholic system consider also Jesus' standard where hatred = murder and lust = adultery.  Are people so blind as to not see how at any given time the vast majority of Catholics would be unsaved under their own standard?

I'm staking my life on the perfect perfection and obedience that Jesus already had, and which God credits to my account by grace through faith.

"However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness." - Romans 4:5

Because I have been freely pardoned, I am freed to actually do works with the right motives:

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." - 1 John 4:18
19 posted on 08/17/2015 11:04:52 AM PDT by amessenger4god
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To: Elsie

I must be tired: I couldn’t extract an argument from your highlighted text: either for or against doing God’s will. Please use your words.

If we believe in God, we must do what He asks us to do. We must love God and love our neighbor. We must look after the poor and hungry. We must have mercy. And so on - you know the rest.


20 posted on 08/17/2015 11:06:41 AM PDT by agere_contra (Hamas has dug miles of tunnels - but no bomb-shelters.)
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