[Running On Empty]

"When I was hungry you gave me to eat, when I was thirsty you gave me to drink, when I was in prison you visited me......come, enter into the kingdom of my Father"

Are these not "works" of grace and faith through love?

"When I was hungry, you did not give me to eat, when I was thirsty you did not give me to drink, when I was in prison you did not visit me.....depart from Me"

[armydoc]

"When I was hungry you gave me to eat, when I was thirsty you gave me to drink, when I was in prison you visited me......come, enter into the kingdom of my Father" Are these not "works" of grace and faith through love?

Absolutely. Our good works are extremely important. They please God. They strengthen our Christian witness. They build up rewards in heaven. They don't, and can't secure our salvation, however. In this case, Jesus was talking to those who, because of their faith in Him, had already secured their salvation. Their good works were credited to them. Presumably, many good works flowed from their salvation- they had "worked out" their salvation, as Paul had exhorted, with God's help. Some produced more good works than others. Notice, however, that they are not admonished for their sins, of which they undoubtably had many. Their sins had already been "deleted" from their accounts because of their faith in Christ- it is like they never happened. Therefore, only their good works, however few they may have been, remain on their "accounts". But make no mistake, the good works did not secure their salvation. Faith in Christ and His finished Work did that.

"When I was hungry, you did not give me to eat, when I was thirsty you did not give me to drink, when I was in prison you did not visit me.....depart from Me"

This group, however, did not have faith in Christ. Therefore, their sins did remain on their "accounts". Notice that this group is not praised for any "good works" they had done during their lives. Undoubtably, they had done some, perhaps many. However, without faith in Christ, thier sin remains and "good works" account for nothing.

So, the discriminator is faith. This is clear in scripture. Now, I believe that once saved, good works naturally flow from the believer. Again, this is a result of salvation, not the means.