What is not of faith is sin my friend.. read the words of Christ
Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Jesus calls their work iniquity. It was sin before God, because it was not work which He ordained..
Work done with the intent of pleasing God, is self serving ..it is the work he does through us that pleases Him .. often we do not even think about it as a good work, it is a natural response not an intentional
I regret saying it, but I believe that your interpretation of “works” is flawed and I personally would not want to be stuck with it.
How could anyone not distinguish between the claim of casting out devils and prophesying as opposed to the good deeds enumerated by Jesus Himself in that discourse.
I don’t understand why the difference between the two is not discernible to some people.
I don’t see any point in going on anymore on this spinning wheel.
It hasn’t worked, so I bow out.
All I can really say to excuse myself from this so-called discussion is that I am a child of God. He made me as his “own marvelous creation”; He knows how I am “made from my mother’s womb”; He wants to give me everything I need to spend eternity with Him and He has provided for all my needs, even those that caused me to suffer and then understand why I suffered.
He saved me because He loves me (Psalm 18:20) and I want to bask in His love and spend what is left of my years singing my praises and gratitude to Him for His love for me.
God is Love.
My longing now is to see Him “face to face” and because of the length of my years I don’t have much time left to love—to love God, to love my brethren and my neighbor.
“Seventy is the sum of our years and eighty if we are strong” (Psalm 90) and I am well into my 80’s
Jesus, I trust in Thee.