Tropical Islander said:
.If you say that Jesus does teach old covenant and you then listen to a Jesus that never really spoke to us, basically a person of your imagination or someone's theology instead - then by all means you have another Jesus.
Another Jesus cannot save anyone, you need to find a way to listen and understand and believe the real and only Jesus Christ, and follow Him. Like a child that has zero theology or way for intellectual thinking or historical views. These views are intellectual, of the flesh, and you still are on the outside looking in.There is no other door to the kingdom, or the Father or the Holy Spirit. Only the real Jesus sets us free, everyone else keeps us in bondage.
That is already part of the falling away, given in to seducing spirits. It's great that someone still warns here about that fact before all believe the same theology of a Jesus that only preached the final gospel after his resurrection. Check, he did, and it's still the same gospel, look carefully for yourselves, there is factual proof for that, and Paul and everyone else confirms that. Except theologians they have a different idea, but who are they to save anyone? You have to come as a child, not as a criticial thinker that rationalizes and misunderstands Paul, a mistake most people make. Paul and Jesus teach the exact same gospel, only with different words to accommodate the gentile cultural "heatheness" - if you haven't discovered that fact yet....it's going to be the thing to spend time with that will improve the understanding greatly. And keep you from falling to different Jesus that has no power to save anyone.
John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
If you don't love Him, why bother? Heaven will be no fun then anyway, it's where He reigns. The same Jesus as in John 14:15 is Lord! He never teaches past tense, he is always in real time!
You too? Twisting my words? He gave us a new commandment. Believe on Him and love one another (1John 3:23) When did I ever say that we shouldn't do these? The answer: never!!!
But what have we learned from the new testament? Nothing at all? Are we justified for eternal life by keeping the ten commandments? Is that
why we are to keep them? So that God can reward us with life for our works? What bible are you reading?
Paul said that we are saved by grace, through faith, and not of works...not of ourselves lest any man should boast.
In Gal.4:22-26, we can see that there are in fact
two covenants. In Paul's words, the one that came from Mnt. Sinai gives birth to bondage. I never wrote that. It is inspired scripture. This website is getting a bit overwhelmed by a few people who insist on bringing us back into bondage. What is this bondage? It is not found in
what we do or don't do, but rather in
why we do or don't do it.
If we are behaving ourselves so that we can earn our justification from God, we are doing exactly what the Galatians were doing that earned them a huge rebuke from their mentor, Paul. Having begun in the spirit, who among us will be responsible for seducing the church to attempt to be made perfect by the flesh?
I marvel that many will quote from the law that Jesus preached but pass over His other quotes.John 3:16, for one. As well, John 5:24. As well John 6:50,51.
But Paul gave a reasonable explanation as to why there seems to be this dispute between life being a free gift and it not being free.
He explained that the law came as a tutor to lead them to Christ. He explained that it's purpose was to confine the world under sin until the Seed should come. But even then, faith would not be revealed until after His death. Why? Because it needed to be kept hidden. If they had known the real plan and purpose and identity of Jesus, they would not have crucified Him.
So yes, Jesus honored the covenant of law while He was alive on earth. He used it to confine them under sin. He never let anyone off the hook. No one He encountered went away satisfied that they were justified by their performance. This was deliberate.
Anyone in today's church who thinks they are justified by their behavior would not receive any different treatment from Jesus if they met Him. For that person, obviously the law has not performed its task.
One does not need a savior if they think they are doing well enough without one. But what will tutor him to see otherwise so that he will come to the savior for the free gift of life? Further to that, who wants to still be under this tutor? Suckers for punishment, I suspect.
No human will ever stand before God and claim everlasting life by way of keeping commandments. No man will be allowed into that arena for boasting. A little secret for you. The real issue is not behavior, it is pride, vs. humility. This issue does not go away once we are saved.
We have this treasure in earthen vessels (2Cor.4:7). This is so that it will always be about God and not about us. He gives grace to the humble and resists the proud. This does not change upon salvation. It is ongoing. We are to walk in Christ the same way we entered into Christ. By faith. It takes humility to accept life as free gift of grace by way of faith. It takes the same humility to keep it.
It might not hurt to examine Luke 18:10-14. After that, go ahead and do all the right things. But don't let them become your source of confidence. A little friendly advice, to whom it may concern.
UHCAIan said:
"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" Romans 6:1-2
Jesus is savior and Lord. We must have faith in His grace and obedience to His Word. For deliberate sin causes grace to be of null effect! Holiness and love are the commands of them that follow Jesus!
"Follow peace with all men and holiness, for without which no man shall see the Lord." Hebrews 12:14
Deliberate sin does not null and void grace. It is the reason grace came along in the first place. Try not to twist what Paul was saying. He was merely giving them a logical reason for not sinning. He did not in that passage even come close to suggesting that grace was on the line. In fact, he just got through saying that were sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.
Deliberate rejection of the sacrifice of Jesus is what will nullify grace. The attempt to be justified by law is how the Galatians fell from grace. How does it escape some people that the Galatians were actually
keeping the commandments? But they were doing it to be justified. This amounted to a rejection of God's solution for removing sin and granting life. It is by the righteous act of
One Man, His Son, and by the sacrifice of this
One Man, His Son. (Rom.5).
On the other hand, for those who are not depending on the sacrifice of Jesus, if they sin willfully, there is no more sacrifice. That is the context of Heb.10. They were those who were falling back into unbelief. Don't agree? Read on.
Under the old sacrifices, those who sinned were covered by the blood of bulls and goats. But these were
INFERIOR to the blood of Jesus. He either successfully took away our sin or He didn't. He either through His sacrifice, perfected us forever, or He didn't. (Heb.10:14)
But Heb.10:39 puts it in perspective. " we are not of those who fall back to perdition, but of those who
believe to the saving of the soul" . I wish I could speak for everyone with that verse. There are apparently those who consider His sacrifice as having less power than the blood of animals. There was a reason this letter was written to the Hebrews. They needed convincing. Guess they are not alone.
When He returns, will He find faith in His own church?
As for holiness, we have a new man, our new spirit, received at the new birth, "which was created according to God
in true righteousness and holiness" (Eph.4:24). We are told to put him on. But in that regard, some will bear more fruit than others, and vica versa. That is not our business. Rewards will be given and taken away. But even though a man's works are burned, " he himself will be saved, yet as through fire" (1Cor.3:15).
