The Gospel Demands Radical Sacrifice - David Platt

You don’t actually know me and you have no idea what “works” I may have or not have. I am certainly not about to boast in myself in this regard.

When you say that grace is not enough but that we must add our own efforts, that is “works based salvation.”

“Putting human belief in certain verses that sound good”? You mean the Gospel, the only hope we have of salvation? You do know why it’s called the “Good News”, right?

Your posts make no sense and you refute your own argument. Of course Grace is power. Christ really did do all that is necessary to save. Denying this is what leads to “another Gospel.”

In other words, you don’t believe Scripture which tells us we can know with certainty that we are saved. You consider this assurance “delusion.” Pretty telling. It seems you really do despise the Gospel.

Our faith in Christ is the victory, because He is the One Who is victorious over sin, death and the grave.

All glory to God.

You promote a “works based salvation”. It is “another Gospel” and a diabolical lie.

No one is earning their own salvation. No one has any reason to boast of themselves before God.

The answer is spiritual. We must believe TO Jesus. That is what the Greek says. We can try to understand this with our carnal minds and miss the depth of the message. Jesus said if we had faith...even the smallest amount...we could do huge miracles. So then we must be careful how we define believing...from God's POV. It is a miracle to be where Jesus is....but we can go there by faith. Not our faith...but a higher faith...the faith OF Jesus Christ.

Look at this spiritual formula..

I have come TO the world that those who believe TO Me will have light. It''s an exchange visit. And the transaction is an exchanged life...as in no longer I who live.

The error begins by trying to directly connect the meaning of the gospel to our present carnal state. As I said...the gospel needs to be "unpackaged."

Those who interpret themselves into the text...without being translated into the kingdom...will be rejected on that day.

I am not saying this to be stubborn (as they in the flesh tend to be) ...but to help people to escape judgment.





The Spirit is the Spirit. What begins in the supernatural must then continue in the supernatural. The flesh power must die to reveal the life of Christ. I am crucified to the world so that I may win Christ.



I live by grace....because I have no confidence in my own understanding. But there is a false gospel that appeals to the flesh...just as it is...by promising it salvation.
Grace is the miraculous power that makes us live by the Spirit. To walk as Jesus walked. So what I despise is the flesh posing as the Spirit. It brings a deadly confusion. The flesh profits nothing. It is the Spirit that gives life.


You can find a concordance on line. The gospel of John is a spiritual gospel...it speaks to people from the Spirit. It must also be read by the Spirit to be understood.

Sayings like...eat my body and drink my blood...cannot be directly applied to the flesh. Otherwise we would be cannibals. So then one must "translate" the text into it's spiritual meaning. It needs to be unpackaged.

What is His body? The living word of God. We can meditate and live by His words.
What is His blood? It is His life given to us to live in. The life is in the blood. When we enter INTO Christ we partake of His life.

All this is spiritual. One must approach these things carefully. They are holy sayings.




I hope not.

You are just not seeing what you are doing at this point. Again, I'm not trying to argue.


For God so loved the "world"......those who God will save are humble, loving, merciful, meek, and they who fear Him. Those who follow the wrong gospel lose all of these.



So you have overcome sin through the blood of Christ?


We are to become righteous. But certain verses, taken out of context, make it sound like God wants to keep us sinners. We are to become like Jesus. It is a maturity thing. So you need to take your ideas and put them in the proper order.




Don't confuse the gift of God with the expectation of God. To whom mush is given MORE is rewquired. So then we who have received grace will be judged by a very high standard...that of holiness. The false gospel makes it out to be backwards like...to whom grace is given...nothing more is required. (this is the opposite of the truth)



Whoever believes TO (or into) Jesus already has eternal life...the life of Jesus. Whoever walks by the power of sinful flesh is not under grace but under the law....the law of sin and death.

Glad to hear that. I am responding according to your reasoning...which is not spiritual.


That's what you are hearing...but not what I'm saying. We increase in grace by going to God...where He is...in Zion (the heavenly place). When we go there we receive grace. We also begin with grace...but it is like a spark of life. It is like a sample you get at a store. If we want that life we must do as Abel did and present ourselves as a living sacrifice to God. If He accepts that sacrifice we are "translated" into His kingdom (in the Spirit) so that we become empowered by grace to walk as Jesus walked. Some call this "the baptism of the Holy Spirit"



There are 2 Hebrew words in the OT that both mean "good news"...When Jesus is speaking, as in Is. 61:1 it is "levaser", which can be rendered "to the flesh", When it is used the other times it is "mevaser" which could be rendered "from the flesh." So then the Hebrew scriptures are telling us that Jesus is coming "to the flesh" in order to save (Jesus means "salvation") us "from the flesh."

The kingdom of this world (of the flesh) is in darkness...but light has come in the form of the kingdom of God (which is by the Spirit).



I am speaking to you what is exactly right....but if you don't take the time to check it out...then this is for others here on the site.


I love the truth. We can know we are walking in the power of God because it is miraculous. Full of power and light and joy, love and peace. But no one wins a race before the race is over. There is no room for smugness and pride with God.



And if we overcome by His grace...then we will also live with Him in eternity. Jesus didn't overcome for us...but to equip us to do as He did. THAT's the real gospel.

Rev' 3:21'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

The false gospel has Jesus overcoming for us and instead of us. But Jesus is looking for us to be exactly as he is.



Always.

Many proclaim their own salvation based on a carnal reading of the bible. I am simply trying to bring things back to their original meaning. We need to lose our lives to enter Christ. We receive a free sample...but Jesus requires everything we are and have to be His follower.

The gospel is like this big boulder (weighing over a ton) that has many stickers on it saying "whoever picks up this boulder has eternal life." As people ponder this someone succeeds in ripping one of the stickers off and then proceeds to shout "I have eternal life!!" "See...it says so on the paper."

When challenged that this is but a paper to describe the boulder, the person replies..."don't you believe the paper?" "It is impossible to pick up that big rock but the boulder (in his interpretation) is this paper that I have picked up...meaning I now have eternal life." And so the institutional church was born.

But the boulder goes unmoved. Those with the smallest amount of faith can do the impossible since with Christ all things are possible. But people prefer to do what they already do AND claim eternal life as well. So it is with the modern gospel.

No, that’s your works based false gospel. Salvation through sinless perfection is NOT the gospel. The gospel is the “good news” of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) and is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that BELIEVES.. (Romans 1:16). To BELIEVE the gospel is to trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as the ALL-sufficient means of our salvation.

1 John 5:4 - Fo whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world our faith. 5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

Christ’s finished work of redemption is sufficient and complete to save believers. No supplements needed (Romans 3:22-28; 4:4-6; Philippians 3:9). Jesus Christ did not simply die on the cross and rise from the dead to merely make it “possible” for you to save yourself through sinless perfection. Those who believe they live a sinless, without fault or defect, flawless, absolute perfect life 100% of the time (exactly as Jesus lived) are suffering from a terminal case of self righteousness (1John 1:8-10).

Matthew 11:
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Exactly! So then armed with that...people pick up the papers (calling them boulders) and assume Jesus was talking about what the fleshly man can do. But faith moves mountains. Is it hard for faith to move mountains? No! It is easy...by the Spirit.

With Jesus what was once impossible through the power of the flesh...becomes ...easy.

What was once impossible because of the weakness of the flesh is now become easy through the Spirit. "My burden is light"...is also "My burden MAKES (things) light." Is it hard to move a mountain by faith? By faith all things become easy. So we should walk by faith...the kind of faith that makes the impossible become easy.

The radical sacrifice is all we have and are. We become a living sacrifice in order to partake of the spiritual life in Christ....where all things become easy. They are made easy because He is doing things through us.

Do we retain our own strength and opinions and ideas? Or do we allow them to be nailed to the cross of Christ so that we might lay hold of His resurrection life?

Always carrying in the body the dying of Jesus so that His life can be made manifest in us...

With Christ ALL things are possible.

Jesus did not come to this world through the Incarnation and die on the cross just to make it possible for us to save ourselves. He is the One Who saves us, period. Anything else is a false Gospel and is condemned by the inspired word of God.

The bible is very clear about God equipping those He has called to walk in holiness. But you are not clear at all.

I am showing you HOW mankind is saved through faith in Christ. But you are just saying your empty mantra over and over again. How does Christ save someone? By a mental assent? Where is the power? By religious opinion? By continuing to walk in the weakness of the flesh? Or by resurrection power?

Your scheme is based on misunderstandings, assumptions and presumptions. But you only have a few verses that support your error.

Jesus says WE must overcome just as He overcame. What do you say to Jesus?

You hit the nail on the head!

As saved, born again believers who are disciples, yes. Our “holiness” does not and cannot save us.

What isn’t clear is mixing grace and works for salvation. All you have then is a confusing mess that saves no one. Salvation is in Christ alone.

No, you are not. You are mixing grace with works and salvation with discipleship.

The fact that you believe the Gospel of salvation to be an “empty mantra” is again really quite telling.

John 3
John 6
1 Corinthians 15:1-4


You do not have a proper understanding of faith if you think it is nothing more than mere “mental assent” or “religious opinion”. You also have an erroneous perspective on the “flesh” if you think that our earthly, mortal, corrupt bodies can ever be anything but “weak.” (The “flesh” wars against the Spirit.) And as for “ressurection power”, that belongs to Christ alone and all to His glory. We receive His grace and forgiveness through faith, not works.

The entire Scriptures point to Christ and the Gospel is not a “scheme.” It is God’s perfect and finished promise of salvation in His Son.

Latour said:

Jesus says WE must overcome just as He overcame.

Click to expand...

Our faith in Christ “overcomes” because He has overcome. Scripture is clear. It is also clear on just what Jesus will say to those who stand before Him one day and boast in the “many wonderful works” they did in His name.

it is His holiness we become partakers of when we enter into Him. You have it backwards..thinking that we can never enter holiness. because of who we are. But it is about who He is. Otherwise we will remain as always...weak in sinful flesh.


You don't understand what you are saying. explain what you mean...I AM SAYING THAT>Salvation is in Christ alone. I am saying that salvation is IN Christ and you call that works... hilarious!


You are reasoning from the weakness of your flesh.



What you have revealed is empty...empty slogans that you can't explain...because you think understanding something is a work.




Nothing in the bible is as you think it is.


Jesus came in the flesh...this weak flesh. Do you deny that Jesus was fully human? So we are empowered to do as He did by HIS victory. Jesus imparts His resurrection power by FAITH.


Which you cannot explain.




That's what I'm telling you the bible says.... Our faith enters into a victorious life that overcomes sin. So we walk as Jesus walked.

1 John 2:3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God [a]is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

Is John speaking of a salvation by works in your opinion...or a salvation THAT WORKS!



You are forgetting the wicked servant who buried his talent and did nothing.

It is about KNOWING the Lord not just doing things. It is about life in Christ. THOSE works are eternal works and they who walk in them will be glorified with Christ.

I do not "have it backwards." This "flesh" IS sin, it wars against the Spirit. And "flesh and blood" will not inherit the Kingdom. Our physical, earthly, corrupt, mortal bodies will either perish or be instantly transformed at Christ's return. This corruption must put on incorruption and this mortal, immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:50-55)


That is not what you have said. You have specifically said that we must also add our own effort and "righteousness" to be saved.


False. I have shared numerous Scriptures, in proper context, with you and you have rejected pretty much every single one of them


I have shared the Gospel. Hardly an "empty slogan."

Nice dismissal. You most definitely prefer to be evasive rather than address Scripture. Quite telling.

Indeed He is ! Rom 8v29 For whom he did 'foreknow he also did 'predestinate to be conformed to ''the image of his son that he might be the '. firstborn among many bothers.
However, since this does not apply to everyone, too much might be expected from them. But there is definetly something missing in christian teaching for people to 'fall short of what is possible.

Thank you for all your posts…they have been an unforgettable encouragement and life to me!
“I love the truth. We can know we are walking in the power of God because it is miraculous. Full of power and light and joy, love and peace. But no one wins a race before the race is over. There is no room for smugness and pride with God.”
“Grace is the miraculous power that makes us live by the Spirit. To walk as Jesus walked. So what I despise is the flesh posing as the Spirit. It brings a deadly confusion. The flesh profits nothing. It is the Spirit that gives life.”

I am very grateful that even on a site like this that there are a few who understand the ways of the Lord!

I thank the LORD daily for you 1)for your clarity in teaching the Word 2)for the renewed hunger I have to know HIM in Spirit & truth.
I heed all your corrections/admonitions to others where they apply in my life.
I meet in homes also, but I'm not as mature as others, so I think this platform has been a trmendous help to my walk!
I read something everyday from your 300+ posts that I rejoice in or am happy that it's not me you're rebuking😐
I felt lead to do a study on "heed" and "instruction" from Strongs that I presented Sunday that opened my spiritual eyes to see in greater measure that God says what He means and means what He says!