Works

[D. Adrien]

43 minutes ago, Neighbor said:

Yes  and an interesting paradox as I see it. For Satan to evidently be cast down yet enabled to come before God with Sons of God  on some sort of scheduled calling/invitation? All the "time" it seems God has foreknown and predestined his servant Job to be used of God even as he (Job) takes the many stripes generated  from Satan's evil mind as Satan challenges God's will.

How blessed I have been for that taking of Satan's assault by Job.  The lessons within it to me from God has been a mainstay  for my own trust in the faith of Jesus.

God had me start my reading of His word, not with the Christmas story, but with Job! It has been "Mr. Toad's wild ride" for many decades now.

In my humble opinion, the christmas story is popular for the paganism infused into it.( Jer. 10 anyone)?

When has there been peace on earth and good will towards men?

Job should be greatly admired for his dedication to God above! I'm happy for you having a commitment to Jesus.

[PATrobas]

On 7/13/2024 at 1:29 PM, Stewardofthemystery said:

It’s God’s words that keep us on the straight and narrow path of righteousness, that is “the Way”we are to “follow”which leads us to Eternal Life.

To follow Christ is to follow God’s Word, God’s Word has always been “the Way”that we are to follow.

Deuteronomy 5:32-33

King James Version

32 Ye shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

33 Ye shall walk in all “the ways”which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.”

Matthew 7:13-14

King James Version

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is THE WAY, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

John 14:2-6

King James Version

2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

4 And whither I go ye know, and THE WAY ye know.

5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know THE WAY?

6 Jesus saith unto him, I am THE WAY, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Believing in and following God’s Word has always been THE WAY.

Those same Jews in Deut. all said they would do all the Lord said to do. They did not. They were trusting in their flesh to do the will of God and failed. They had no power to do the law. The best they could do was be broken before God and confess that they couldn't do what He said to do. Psa 51:17  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Fast forward to today. The gospel of Christ is not believe AND DO (adding your good works to His finished work) (see the book of Galatians which condemns adding works to the Gospel) If you are saved you will have good works as a result of believing, not norder to be saved. Consider Jesus most basic command encapsulating the whole law:

Mrk 12:30  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

How are you (or anyone else for that matter) doing in obeying this? Don't get me wrong, I WANT to do that because I'm a new creation in Christ, but I fall woefully short. Do you see that little word ALL? Does your mind ever wander and love the world just a teensey bit? Then when it does, you aren't loving Him with ALL you mind.

The law was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, which made us realize we can't keep it. Rom 3:20  Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. :21  But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; :22  Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

The commandments of Christ today are whatever He says to you to do, and yes, we are to obey Him but we can only do that by the power of the HS. Do I obey Him always? No. But the new me, the one that has been born again, wants to obey and is miserable when I don't. These are not new things, but must be shared again lest we get puffed up thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought.

My righteousness is Christ's righteousness, not the things I do for Him but the things He does in me.

Jesus is THE WAY to be saved. Following (Obeying) Him provides rest ONCE WE ARE.

I can't be saved by doing the Word of God other than believing the Gospel. In it alone do I rest. May the Lord give grace and mercy.

[Stewardofthemystery]

1 hour ago, PATrobas said:

Those same Jews in Deut. all said they would do all the Lord said to do. They did not. They were trusting in their flesh to do the will of God and failed. They had no power to do the law. The best they could do was be broken before God and confess that they couldn't do what He said to do. Psa 51:17  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Fast forward to today. The gospel of Christ is not believe AND DO (adding your good works to His finished work) (see the book of Galatians which condemns adding works to the Gospel) If you are saved you will have good works as a result of believing, not norder to be saved. Consider Jesus most basic command encapsulating the whole law:

Mrk 12:30  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

How are you (or anyone else for that matter) doing in obeying this? Don't get me wrong, I WANT to do that because I'm a new creation in Christ, but I fall woefully short. Do you see that little word ALL? Does your mind ever wander and love the world just a teensey bit? Then when it does, you aren't loving Him with ALL you mind.

The law was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, which made us realize we can't keep it. Rom 3:20  Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. :21  But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; :22  Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

The commandments of Christ today are whatever He says to you to do, and yes, we are to obey Him but we can only do that by the power of the HS. Do I obey Him always? No. But the new me, the one that has been born again, wants to obey and is miserable when I don't. These are not new things, but must be shared again lest we get puffed up thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought.

My righteousness is Christ's righteousness, not the things I do for Him but the things He does in me.

Jesus is THE WAY to be saved. Following (Obeying) Him provides rest ONCE WE ARE.

I can't be saved by doing the Word of God other than believing the Gospel. In it alone do I rest. May the Lord give grace and mercy.

They couldn’t follow the words of God/ the law because of the weakness of “the flesh”.  And even though we are saved by Grace, and not by our own works of the law, we still “follow the WAY”the Lord instructs us to walk.

Those who are born again of the Spirit  now have the Word of God dwelling “in them” guiding them and keeping them in “the Way.”

Romans 8:2-9

King James Version

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through “the flesh,” God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

4 That “the righteousness of the law” might be ((fulfilled in us,))who walk not after “the flesh,”but after ((the Spirit.))

5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of “the flesh;”but they that are after the Spirit the things of ((the Spirit.))

6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be ((spiritually minded))is life and peace.

7 Because “the carnal mind is enmity” against God: for ((it is not subject to the law of God,)) neither indeed can be.

8 So then they that are in “the flesh”cannot please God.

9 But ye are not “in the flesh”, ((but in the Spirit,))if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

[TheBlade]

On 7/13/2024 at 5:23 AM, other one said:

Please also take this into consideration:::

 

These people are going to hell because they did not do the works expected by Jesus.   I agree that we are not saved by works for we can't do anything to deserve salvation, but there are things and a way of life we are expected to do once we have declared Jesus as our Lord, and if we don't do them, it's off to the fires for us.

Hi for me first Christ was not talking to any Christians. Now if one believes they will go through the great tribulation .. how will be be standing before Him when He comes and stands on the earth then gathers the nations? Are the dead raised who were judged already because they beloved in Christ who came in the flesh and God raised form the dead..... wait they are not in the ground but with the Father to be absent of this body is to be present with the lord. See I ask what believer will be there because it is written not one believer will worship the beast whos names were written in the Lambs book before the foundation of the world

Its written anyone that does not bow and worship is killed. Any one that gets to the point where the world again is told to take the mark or die.. well all of them are lost because they worshiped the beast. The world is told to worship or you die. You take the mark or you die. No believer will worship the beast so they will be killed. 

One were talking about man whom a GOD the only true GOD the great I am created and He loves them just as much as He loves you and me. He left heaven became His creation to save them.  Yeah its not our kids or spouse were talking about (forgive me Father) ending up in hell. 

There is no scripture for "and if we don't do them, it's off to the fires for us.". He never said that. Some will try to tie in where Christ said about those that say lord lord will not enter. They leave out or never searched that in Christ day so many were always coming up to Him saying "lord lord" "Rabbi Rabbi" "Master master".  Yeah then it starts to become more clear huh. 

I pray we know we are not told to follow what some other believer believes, says quotes, preaches, teaches. We follow Christ we all have His word its why we all work out our own salvation. So someone that believes in these WORKS like some do.. ooh praise GOD you better be doing them then. 

There are known preachers so many follow that say and I quote.. if you don't have a heart to witness your not saved or your back slidden. Oh you would not believe who says that. On the outside hmm seems true yet.. its not written. But we should all love to share Him to all. 

 

[CaptWalker]

Well as far as this parable goes I think you have explained it very well. But there is still the question of just what the definition of "works" is? I personally believe it to be doing whatever you can to help as someone else, no matter how insignificant it may seem to be.

I really feel that the connection you are making in that interaction is really what truly matters and what it's all about. My mom has told me of at least 3 times when the person in front of her in the drive thru had paid for her order. And really it could be as simple as that if you feel suddenly led to do something like that in an otherwise insignificant scenario. But you never know how much it will mean to that person!?

But I really think as long as you are seeking and trying to do good works then God will provide that opportunity, but you just have to be ready for it or you could miss it.

[other one]

27 minutes ago, CaptWalker said:

there is still the question of just what the definition of "works" is?

That is a very good question, and it seems the discrepancy between those who say we are to do good works and others saying works can save you.

So if the definition of Works is something you can do to be saved, the answer is no works can't save you, but if you define it as helping people in life because it's the right thing to do, I think Jesus has told us we should live that way and is part of what saved people do.

[CaptWalker]

Even though i would agree that God is not going to be judging us by our works as to whether He can accept us into His kingdom, I also believe He will most definitely be looking very closely at what we have done in our lives to serve others and in doing so serving him, in the sense of what Christ said about "whatever you have done for one of the least of these". But also i am well familiar with the "Paulinist" mindset and how they view this subject. In fact as i have alluded to before, they almost come to the point of completely ignoring the book of James and feel as if it was somehow put into the Canon of scriptures by mistake?! But i really dont think it is in any way inferior to any of the epistles of Paul, since if they left out that great book of ENOCH then what James had to say must have been and still is very important to know, period!

[other one]

2 hours ago, CaptWalker said:

Even though i would agree that God is not going to be judging us by our works as to whether He can accept us into His kingdom,

i'm not so sure about that.

Quote

 

Matt 25:31-46

31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.  32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.  34 Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,  36  I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.'  37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?  38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?  39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?'  40 And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'

41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,  43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.'  44 Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?'  45 Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'  46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
ESV

 

 

[CaptWalker]

Well I wasnt referring to those "pew sitter" types who never really received salvation and the Holy Spirit in the true way Christ and the Word defines it. But i really don't like mentioning them because I feel like I'm judging and I know it offends a lot of people.

But yes as far as how God will judge those half-hearted "fence sitters" I do believe those verses you quoted are primarily referring to them, but also to the rest in that crowd that Christ was addressing at the time, including those hypocritical scribes and pharisees. But as for those who have at least been seeking to do good works, no matter how many or few, I do believe their efforts will be honored and rewarded. 

Edited July 24, 2024 by CaptWalker

[BibleStudent100]

On 7/14/2024 at 7:28 AM, D. Adrien said:

In my humble opinion, the christmas story is popular for the paganism infused into it.

A LOT of paganism has been injected into "religious" holidays.  Thank about Easter...