Yes. Very good. There are so many.
And Jesus said these things Himself.
What higher authority?
I find it causes confusion to say that we should do works because we love Jesus,
but we don't really have to do them.
Scripture is clear: Works do not save, but they do sanctify---and that's the next step.
yes our sanctification IS the will of God according to paul. I think that obedience to Jesus, and " works of the Law of moses" are 2 different things completely. the Law commanded " you must surely put the sinner among you to death" Jesus of course saved the sinner condemned according to the Mosaic Law, in His mercy and then says " Go and leave your life of sin"
obeying Jesus and keeping the hundreds of scrupulous commands of the mosaic Law are 2 seperate things One is for Christians, the other was to lead the world to Jesus the Highest authority that exists. being the ONE mediator between God and man. we can destroy our own selves if we persist in disobedience, its not Gods fault if we do that, He has made the way clear and straight, and He validated it by spilling His sons Blood to pay our debts according to the mosaic Law.
Without Jesus we would have to follow the mosaic Law so when our children dishonored us we would be commanded to drag them outside cast the first stone and all the congegation would then pick up jagged rocks and toss them until the child was killed. its a direct command of the Law of Moses. really if you compare the mosaic Law to the Gospel, there are very few similarities outside the ten commandments. and those were seperate tablets from the book of moses Law. we have the word of Life to follow and there is no condemnation in it, the law had many condemnations and repentance wasnt even provided for as an option for the laws premise is " show no pity to the sinner, no mercy upon them you must surely put them to death and purge the sin from among you.
some teach that Jesus taught the mosaic Law again, but its strange that it is so different in every aspect. if we truly take what Jess did for us to heart we will serve Him according to His will. and His will is made plain in His words. forgive others when they sin against you is the will of God, repent of our sins and follow the Lord is the will of God, care for those we are able to help who have need is the will of God, work Justice and righteousness is Gods will, be sanctified accoprding to the truth given by Jesus is Gods will. its not a mt=ystery Jesus took what was hidden because of our sins, and made it plain.
Once we believe in Jesus, there is much to do. and if we refuse to do those things we do have to stand before the One who clearly said " Learn and do these things with a fervent passion. we who have partaken of the Holy spirit should Love the idea of learning from the One who made salvation possible for us through the shedding of His own tears and His blood upon OUR cross. He did that for me, therefore i will receive every word of His as my Savior and Lord.
if we Just take His word for it, we cant deny that there are things we must do in response to the gift of hope of eternal Life