From the book “hard to believe” by John MacArthur.
Man-made and demon-designed systems of religion are based on the assumption that we don't really need a Savior, or aren't fully dependent on Him, because we have the capacity to develop our own righteousness. Just let God give us a little religious environment to aid our natural goodness, dispense a little power to us, or infuse a little strength into us. Give us a few rules, a few religious routines and rituals, and we'll crank up salvation on our own. The lie of human achievement comes under myriad different titles, but it's all the same system, because it's spawned out of the same source: Satan himself. He packages it in different boxes, but it's all the same product. On the other hand, the truth of divine accomplishment is Christianity. And it stands alone.
Tragically, most of humanity is religiously speeding down the wide highway of human achievement, convinced it's headed toward some fabulous heavenly destiny because of its own basic goodness, noble works, and religious deeds. By contrast, Jesus said the only true way to heaven is the narrow pathway of trusting Him alone as Lord and Savior.
The Jews taught that they could make it on their own. That's why it was so shocking when the apostle Paul said, "Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight" (Rom. 3:20). He also said that the law came in order to stop our mouths from any claim to righteousness and to render the whole world guilty before God. The Law came to show us our sinfulness, but when self-righteous, ego-centered man saw that he was sinful by the Law, he didn't want to face his sinfulness. Fallen people set their sinfulness aside and are constantly inventing new systems that accommodate their short comings, then affirming that they are okay before their gods, based on their own personal criteria or religious beliefs and behaviors.
end
My comment: their are those on this forum, and other forums, that say a Christian is given the power to not sin in the flesh. They refuse to see that they are still sinful in the flesh and that only faith in Jesus' work on the cross will save them. These people do not like me because I teach salvation is obtained only through Jesus' work on the cross will save them. They refuse the righteousness that God cloths them and prefer to cling to their own self righteousness.
Now here will come the gadflies to irritate me.
Man-made and demon-designed systems of religion are based on the assumption that we don't really need a Savior, or aren't fully dependent on Him, because we have the capacity to develop our own righteousness. Just let God give us a little religious environment to aid our natural goodness, dispense a little power to us, or infuse a little strength into us. Give us a few rules, a few religious routines and rituals, and we'll crank up salvation on our own. The lie of human achievement comes under myriad different titles, but it's all the same system, because it's spawned out of the same source: Satan himself. He packages it in different boxes, but it's all the same product. On the other hand, the truth of divine accomplishment is Christianity. And it stands alone.
Tragically, most of humanity is religiously speeding down the wide highway of human achievement, convinced it's headed toward some fabulous heavenly destiny because of its own basic goodness, noble works, and religious deeds. By contrast, Jesus said the only true way to heaven is the narrow pathway of trusting Him alone as Lord and Savior.
The Jews taught that they could make it on their own. That's why it was so shocking when the apostle Paul said, "Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight" (Rom. 3:20). He also said that the law came in order to stop our mouths from any claim to righteousness and to render the whole world guilty before God. The Law came to show us our sinfulness, but when self-righteous, ego-centered man saw that he was sinful by the Law, he didn't want to face his sinfulness. Fallen people set their sinfulness aside and are constantly inventing new systems that accommodate their short comings, then affirming that they are okay before their gods, based on their own personal criteria or religious beliefs and behaviors.
end
My comment: their are those on this forum, and other forums, that say a Christian is given the power to not sin in the flesh. They refuse to see that they are still sinful in the flesh and that only faith in Jesus' work on the cross will save them. These people do not like me because I teach salvation is obtained only through Jesus' work on the cross will save them. They refuse the righteousness that God cloths them and prefer to cling to their own self righteousness.
Now here will come the gadflies to irritate me.