Belief and Faith in Christ + Repentance + Baptism + Communion....The Way to Heaven....As described by Christ.
Hey, what happened to confession in your line up? Did you forget one?
So it's belief and faith in Christ + repentance? In that order? You don't seem to realize that repentance "precedes" belief/faith.
Matthew 21:32 - For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you
did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not
repent and believe him. *Notice the order.
Mark 1:15 - The time has come,” he said. The kingdom of God has come near.
Repent and believe the gospel. *Notice the order.
Acts 20:21 - testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of
repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. *Notice the order.
*Those who believe the gospel have already repented in the process of changing their mind and choosing to believe the gospel.*
Satan would never obey Christ, why don't you? Satan would deny the Gospel, why do you?
I don't deny the gospel which 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) By choosing to believe the gospel I have obeyed Christ. You "add" works to the gospel, which is not believing the gospel or obeying Christ. (Galatians 1:6-9)
There are no "works" in the Words of Christ's description of Salvation. Again all in your head.
So no work is involved at all in getting water baptized and taking communion? Yeah right.
You only label something as a "work" when it conveniences you. In Matthew 3:15 when Jesus was water baptized, He said it was fitting to
fulfill all righteousness. Water baptism is a
work of righteousness and we are
not saved by works of righteousness which we have done. (Titus 3:5) Plain and simple.
In Luke 22:19, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is My body which is given for you;
do this in remembrance of Me. So no work at all is involved here either? Just a meaningless ceremony to you? No wait, you said the way to heaven is through taking communion. You sound like a mixed up Roman Catholic who teaches transubstantiation. Jesus is the Bread of Life and just as bread nourishes our physical bodies, Jesus gives and sustains eternal life to all believers. In John 6:35, we read -
"I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst." Jesus is using figurative language to emphasize these spiritual truths. Jesus explains the sense of this passage when He says in John 6:63 -
"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life."
The literal interpretation (transubstantiation) literally eating His flesh and drinking blood (cannibalism) is ridiculous! Through faith we partake of Christ, the benefits of His bodily sacrifice on the cross and shed blood, receiving eternal life. Eating and drinking is not literal cannibalism here, but the receiving of God’s grace by believing in Christ for salvation, as Jesus makes clear below:
John 6:40 - Everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 6:54 - Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 6:47 - Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.
John 6:58 - He who eats this bread will live forever.
"He who believes" and "he who eats this bread and drinks My blood" ends in the same result, receiving eternal life. Jesus is the Bread of Life; we eat of Him and are satisfied when we believe in Him. Bread represents the "staff of life," sustenance. That which essential to sustain life. Just as bread or sustenance is necessary to maintain physical life, Jesus is all the sustenance necessary for spiritual life. The source of physical life is blood, "life is in the blood." As with bread, blood is the empowering or source of life physically, Jesus is all the source of spiritual life necessary. Praise God! :)
In Ephesians 2:10, we read that we (believers) are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Now you really believe that does not include water baptism and taking communion? Believers are commanded to do both, yet you say they are not works. I guess they are just nothing. Talk about confused!
You cannot find scriptures that call Repentance, Baptism, and Communion as works....not from Christ or the Apostles.
Repentance is a change of mind which precedes saving belief/faith in Christ, so it's not a work for salvation. Receiving water baptism is a work done in righteousness for believers, unless you are an unbeliever when you received water baptism, which would make it a work done in unrighteousness. Neither Christ nor the Apostles needed to go down the line and specifically label everything that is a work as a work in order to figure out what works are. Good grief! Where is your common sense?
You keep coming up with beliefs that more than non-biblical, they are Anti-Christ....Anti-Gospel.
You are the master of IRONY.
