Not By Works

I didn't ignore the words 'turn away from' and I also did not ignore "trusts in his OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS." The righteous man trusted in his own righteousness. What do we read about that in Romans 10:3? 'Turning away from' demonstrates you were never truly committed to what you turned away from. Otherwise, you would not turn away.

In Matthew 9:13, Jesus said - But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” Who are the "righteous" here in context and were they truly righteous? 11 - And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

My case has been buit over the last few posts. Look there.

Someone gets it

None of this passage below supports your assertions:

Ezekiel 18
20b The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
21 “But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 22 None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. 23 Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live? 24 “But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die.

None of this passage below supports your assertions:

Ezekiel 18
20b The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
21 “But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 22 None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. 23 Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live? 24 “But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die.

Verse 20b starts with a CONTRAST between the Righteous and the Wicked, but the common effect of both actions being upon themselves. However you start with the premise in this passage that they BOTH are Wicked. How does that make any contextual sense? You have asserted that the righteous here are the self-righteous. If that was the case, then I will assert that they then cannot be called righteous but rather wicked. But this isn't the case. Then it goes and describes when EACH side changes their ways to the other side. Your case crumbles.

Sure they do and once again, this is describing a righteousness which is by the law rather than that which is by faith. Who is Ezekiel written to? Israel, under the old covenant or the Church, under the new covenant? Again (in context) ..but he "trusts in his OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS" (which in light of Romans 10:3 speaking about Israel) settles the matter for me.

In light of Ezekiel being written to Israel under the law, along with Ezekiel 18:29; 33:13; Romans 10:3 and Matthew 9:13, your case crumbles.

Sure they do and once again, this is describing a righteousness which is by the law rather than that which is by faith. Who is Ezekiel written to? Israel, under the old covenant or the Church, under the new covenant? Again (in context) ..but he "trusts in his OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS" (which in light of Romans 10:3 speaking about Israel) settles the matter for me.

What righteousness by the law is this you refer to?

Why would God remove his light at all? If that light is required for them to repent? i.e. repent or God will remove the light. If God removes the light, how could they ever repent. What about individual believers WITHIN Ephesus? How could they now continue to walk in God's light if he has removed such light from the church?

Once again, the creativity here astounds....

What righteousness by the law is this you refer to?

If God calls them righteous (which he did) and then God says they turned from this, then we take God at His word.

When God calls them Wicked, and then they turned from their wickedness, then we take God at His word.

Then feel free to answer. Does a believer need to repent of these other things?

Do we also take God as His word in Romans 10:1-4 and Matthew 9:13? Scripture must harmonize with scripture, so something has to give.

God changes not.

If God calls them righteous (which he did) and then God says they turned from this, then we take God at His word.

When God calls them Wicked, and then they turned from their wickedness, then we take God at His word.

I've been there too! Whats going on? What makes you feel that way? Did something happen? Sorry for being lazy and not reading the whole thread.
Now im not no doctor but I can relate to what you're feeling, sounds like DEPRESSION CITY, population: YOU

I lived in that city all my life, ever since I could remember i was never interested in ANYTHING, other folks was excited about getting their driver's licenses, cars, girlfriends, jobs, university positions WHATEVER, I never got excited for anything in my entire life and everytime I was happy, i was ACTING. Then when I got saved I was the same way for a long time and I kept praying God help me, I tried very briefly antidepressants only ONCE and i immediately stopped when i noticed these things wont fix me they just NUMB the symptoms and could make me go from a DEPRESSED MAN to a DEPRESSED dopehead man, I had seen so many people go through that.

How God gave me the victory over depression was by removing IDLENESS. An idlemind is the devil's workshop. Even if you couldn't walk, if you can TALK, you can influence other people and give them words of encouragement, wisdom, motivation... in other words you got a PURPOSE for existance. God put you here for a REASON, you have a CALLING, and God wants you to roll up your sleeves and WORK HARD in whatever HE is caling you to do!

So my suggestion is, switch your prayer to: GOD lift me up and SHOW ME the path you want me to walk and I will walk on it.

I come from the mean streets so I can relate to the inmates and ex-inmates and all the OGs, that is my call to ministry to WITNESS to those kind of people, to help them program and get rid of alcoholism or substance abuse and motivate them through the triple W method, Worship, Workout, Work. To be there for folks!

Once you find your calling, and you RUN WITH IT, you simply DONT GOT TIME to be depressed, and once the calling is from GOD, it wont feel like a CHORE like doing dishes. But you'll do it out of LOVE for God and you'll do it with JOY. You'll wake up in the morning yelling LETS GOOOOOO, say your prayers while still in bed, crack open a bible, SMASH those burpees, drink some coffee and start the day.

I know it seems like there is NO WAY OUT and its nothing but blackness and depression and sadness and every day is MISERY and my message sounds like some Joel Osteen self-talk NONSENSE but TRUST ME, with God there is always a way out of depression, NO MATTER THE CIRCUMSTANCES.

PS: Proper diet, exercise and getting enough sleep can also help with depression, JUST SAYING THAT in case your depression is mostly related to something like that, I dont know your circumstances so dont tihnk im PREACHING to you, just trying to help out here.

Lord show this woman her calling and release her from the prison of depression and let the joy of the LORD overwhelm her. In Jesus' name I pray. amen!