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I don't mean to be confusing. Forgive me, perhaps I got off the track a bit in the enthusiasm of my last post. :-)

You asked about works we must accomplish to walk through the narrow gate. That's different from works that can't save us (because we screwed up the one shot we had) that Paul talks about (Rom. 9, Gal. 3, Titus 3, etc.) and that many people confuse with works of obedience. I want to make sure we understand which works we're talking about.

It's the works of obedience that the Lord requires of us. These works don't "buy, earn, or work your way into salvation," as you put it in #62. On the contrary, they are the works wrought by one who is "making every effort to enter in by the narrow gate".

Consider, for instance, the Israelites making every effort to take the city of Jericho. They were told to march around the city, blow the trumpets, shout, etc. Were those works? Was is those works that made the walls come tumbling down? Or were they merely doing their part in God's plan, and trusting Him to bring down the walls they were unable to topple on their own?

>>It’s the works of obedience that the Lord requires of us.

What are these works? I ask everyone who goes down this path and no one ever really answers the question, or the follow-up question: what differentiates these works from the works that don’t do anything but condemn?