Posted on 08/17/2015 9:45:07 AM PDT by amessenger4god
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.
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?
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.
And this is the problem with “Bumper Sticker Theology”. Easy beliverism, is not a path to heaven, but to perdition instead.
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.
....”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.
Jesus says one thing. You say another.
Which one should we believe?
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!
Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
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 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.
Where do you believe this division will occur, where Jesus says depart from me you workers of iniquity?
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.
How would you define the way to God?
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.
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