Not By Works

[mailmandan]

Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 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?

Matthew 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity

In regards to Matthew 7:21-23, (I will never forget, prior to my conversion several years ago while still attending the Roman Catholic church) I read Matthew 7:22 and thought to myself, oh my goodness! These many people accomplished all of that, "prophesied in His name, cast out demons, and did many wonderful works" but that still was not "good enough?" Then I thought to myself at that time, how am I going to "top that" and be "good enough?" Such is the mindset of someone who believes that obtaining salvation is based on works.

Matthew 7:21 - Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. *John 6:40 - For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.

These many people (unbelievers) in Matthew 7:22 had the wrong foundation. They were trusting in their works to save them and NOT IN CHRIST ALONE. Jesus NEVER knew them which means they were NEVER saved. Their hearts were not right with God, so their "attempted external obedience" (apart from the righteousness of God which is by faith and the blood of Christ) was stained with sin. *Seeking salvation by works is not the will of the Father.

John 17:3 - And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. The term "know" implies intimate, experiential knowledge, through a relationship with Him, not merely theoretical knowledge. These many people were not true converts. *Without faith it's impossible to please God no matter how many alleged wonderful works that these many people set out to conjure up through the flesh in a vain effort to obtain salvation based on works. This is why Jesus referred to these many people as "workers of iniquity." God does not see the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus (Romans 4:5-6; Philippians 3:9) in unbelievers, but He see's all of their sins which remain and have not been washed away by the blood of Christ.

 

[FollowHisSteps]

You really should read Scripture. It may open your eyes to God’s gracious Truth.

Hi smooth,

I read scripture constantly, and think about its precepts, foundations, principles, aspirations,
truths, beauty, wonder, truth, love, healing, victory.

It is why I do not recognise your responses.
Scripture is very unusual. When our hearts are in tune, it flows like a stream of living water,
ministering, refreshing and bringing life. If we see things outside Gods will, it becomes dry,
bitter, difficult, distant, something that no longer gives us delight and pleasure.
Gods grace is a wonder to our souls, and His truth a delight to our path, Amen.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Phil 4

18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.
21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.
23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
1 Peter 1

 

[Noose]

Rom 8:23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

 

[Smooth]

Hi smooth,

I read scripture constantly, and think about its precepts, foundations, principles, aspirations,
truths, beauty, wonder, truth, love, healing, victory.

It is why I do not recognise your responses.
Scripture is very unusual. When our hearts are in tune, it flows like a stream of living water,
ministering, refreshing and bringing life. If we see things outside Gods will, it becomes dry,
bitter, difficult, distant, something that no longer gives us delight and pleasure.
Gods grace is a wonder to our souls, and His truth a delight to our path, Amen.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Phil 4

18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.
21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.
23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
1 Peter 1

And yet you fail to see the free, irrevocable gift of grace through faith. That’s actually quite astonishing.

 

[Noose]

Q. How does someone hope for what they already have which they think, is irrevocable?

Q. Why does anyone have faith for what they have and can never loose?

 

[Smooth]

Q. How does someone hope for what they already have which they think, is irrevocable?

Q. Why does anyone have faith for what they have and can never loose?

1: We don’t hope; we rejoice.

2: We don’t have faith in grace, we have faith in Jesus Christ. Grace is the free gift of said faith.

 

[mailmandan]

And yet you fail to see the free, irrevocable gift of grace through faith. That’s actually quite astonishing.

Amen! Unlike the english word "hope," the N.T. word contains no uncertainty; it speaks of something that is certain. - Strong's #1680 elpís (from elpō, "to anticipate, welcome") – properly, expectation of what is sure (certain); hope. If we have saving faith in Christ then we have this hope. Faith is the substance of things HOPED for.. (Hebrews 11:1). So that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the HOPE of eternal life (Titus 3:7). Believers have eternal life as a present possession (John 5:24) but they still have not yet received their glorified bodies. Justification is the present tense of salvation and glorification is future tense of salvation.

 

[FollowHisSteps]

Unfortunately you’re self righteous. But you don’t always have to be that way. You can glorify God for the free, irrevocable gift of grace through faith in Jesus Christ. I pray you receive His grace.

Ok I now see what you mean.
I am self righteous because in your eyes I do not accept Jesus, the way you define it.

It is hard for me to see or sympathise with this belief system.
I say this because this belief system makes everyone self righteous, literally,
it is faith in Jesus that obscures or hides this from God.

Unfortunately my whole experience in Jesus preaches against this.
God declares He blesses the righteous and those who walk in His ways, not because they
are trying to prove themselves to God but because this is literally the only was of life, not
life in terms of appearing good, but it is good, it is fantastic, it is what God created us for.

The love Jesus puts in our hearts makes us into different people. You cannot put limits
on the change. We become new creations, where you think you could say this is where I
end and Gods work begins, we are totally Gods work. In the world we have the idea we
are objects upon which things happen, while in Christ we change, and we are not really
aware of it. Sin works the same way as we die, we still feel us and cannot see what is
going on, everything is just closing down.

Praise the Lord in Him is Life and Life eternal. God bless you in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen

 

[FollowHisSteps]

John 3:16-17 is the truth regardless of anything you say to oppose it.

16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
John 3

Amen. If you want to believe I oppose this, that is your understanding. I just rejoice in Jesus and His saving
grace and His work in my life, Amen.

 

[Noose]

1: We don’t hope; we rejoice.

So you have no hope, therefore no faith.

Heb 11:1Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see.

2: We don’t have faith in grace, we have faith in Jesus Christ. Grace is the free gift of said faith.

Christ is our salvation:
1 Cor 1:30 It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.

2 Corinthians 5:21
God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

 

[FollowHisSteps]

And yet you fail to see the free, irrevocable gift of grace through faith. That’s actually quite astonishing.

Hi Smooth,

I am not astonished at your astonishment. The more we know the more we know how little we grasp
and how more vast is the infinite nature of existence.

As soon as we close the book, we have dishonoured that which God has begun to reveal.
I am personally stunned that so much has been given to me, and how so much more there is still to
do in His will. Praise God it is His will and not mine, His path and His leading, because without Him
I would be lost, eternally so, and very very sad and weeping and gnashing my teeth without resolution.

God bless you

 

[Smooth]

So you have no hope, therefore no faith.

Heb 11:1Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see.



Christ is our salvation:
1 Cor 1:30 It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.

2 Corinthians 5:21
God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

You’ve totally taking my words out of context. In other news, water is wet.

 

[Noose]

Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

 

[FollowHisSteps]

1: We don’t hope; we rejoice.
2: We don’t have faith in grace, we have faith in Jesus Christ. Grace is the free gift of said faith.

Lego faith.

We can summarise things so much they lose their meaning or have so many different ones, it
becomes just a slogan.
I do like some phrases though, working faith rather than passive faith.

When works salvation dominated, saving faith was a keen summary.
The problem is these summaries only work in defined contexts.

 

[Noose]

You’ve totally taking my words out of context. In other news, water is wet.

Aren't you the one who said:

1: We don’t hope; we rejoice.

And even if you hope, why do you hope for something you already have and is irrevocable?

 

[DeighAnn]

So after considering the CONTEXT, it seems most likely that "he was sanctified"

I am wondering why.

 

[FollowHisSteps]

You’ve totally taking my words out of context. In other news, water is wet.

The victim of too much summary and not enough context. Who can blame the reader for taking
a different context than the one you meant to yourself but never wrote

It is like writing up an experiment and saying, we did the experiment and it worked.
Other than being a conclusion by the writer as to their feelings about the experiment it conveys nothing else.
dc loves these type of comments, which though that is sharing his attitudes adds nothing more.

 

[Smooth]

Hi Smooth,

I am not astonished at your astonishment. The more we know the more we know how little we grasp
and how more vast is the infinite nature of existence.

As soon as we close the book, we have dishonoured that which God has begun to reveal.
I am personally stunned that so much has been given to me, and how so much more there is still to
do in His will. Praise God it is His will and not mine, His path and His leading, because without Him
I would be lost, eternally so, and very very sad and weeping and gnashing my teeth without resolution.

God bless you

Do you do God’s will so that you will not lose your salvation? That’s rather selfish of you. Instead, you should do God’s will of bearing fruit for the pure joy of it and rest easily knowing you cannot lose your salvation that is freely and irrevocably given to everyone who has faith in Christ. May God bless you with His glorious truth.

 

[Smooth]

Amen! Unlike the english word "hope," the N.T. word contains no uncertainty; it speaks of something that is certain. - Strong's #1680 elpís (from elpō, "to anticipate, welcome") – properly, expectation of what is sure (certain); hope. If we have saving faith in Christ then we have this hope. Faith is the substance of things HOPED for.. (Hebrews 11:1). So that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the HOPE of eternal life (Titus 3:7). Believers have eternal life as a present possession (John 5:24) but they still have not yet received their glorified bodies. Justification is the present tense of salvation and glorification is future tense of salvation.

Amen, brother! 😎🙏

 

[Smooth]

Ok I now see what you mean.
I am self righteous because in your eyes I do not accept Jesus, the way you define it.

It is hard for me to see or sympathise with this belief system.
I say this because this belief system makes everyone self righteous, literally,
it is faith in Jesus that obscures or hides this from God.

Unfortunately my whole experience in Jesus preaches against this.
God declares He blesses the righteous and those who walk in His ways, not because they
are trying to prove themselves to God but because this is literally the only was of life, not
life in terms of appearing good, but it is good, it is fantastic, it is what God created us for.

The love Jesus puts in our hearts makes us into different people. You cannot put limits
on the change. We become new creations, where you think you could say this is where I
end and Gods work begins, we are totally Gods work. In the world we have the idea we
are objects upon which things happen, while in Christ we change, and we are not really
aware of it. Sin works the same way as we die, we still feel us and cannot see what is
going on, everything is just closing down.

Praise the Lord in Him is Life and Life eternal. God bless you in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen

You’re self righteous in believing your works justify the maintaining of your salvation. Believing your works are greater than Jesus Christ’s is the epitome of self righteousness. This doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a bad person, but it definitely at the very least means you are incomprehensibly misguided. May God open your eyes to His glorious truth.