Skeptic-Legalist asked: “No one keeps the Commandments but Jesus?”
No one, no one born of Adam’s seed (Romans 5:12) keeps the Commandments (Romans 3:23), if that were possible, Jesus died in vain (Galatians 2:21).
Righteousness, a right standing with Elohim, mandates “perfection” in word, thought, deed, in order to appease Elohim’s wrath for sin; this, the very reason Messiah entered Time apart from Adam’s seed (the seed of the woman), walked in sinless perfection before the Father and humanity, gave Himself as blood atonement for sin (to destroy the works of Satan, 1 John 3:8b) and the Father interceded via New Covenant promise and agreed to impute, gift, the sinless perfection of Jesus over the life of anyone who trusts in Messiah as their propitiation for the Adamic initiated sin-debt (2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 8:12).
Through this New Covenant promise, those who trust in Jesus are made “positionally” right with the Father; that is, the Father agrees to only see the perfection, righteousness, of His dear Son in the redeemed in Jesus, not their sin; this New Covenant promise pacifies the Father’s wrath and permits entrance into the Kingdom, a divine Kingdom where “nothing impure is permitted to exist” (Rev 21:27).
Commandment keeping is not an element of salvation nor do the Commandments, Moses, Days, Diets, have relevance in daily Christian sanctification as it is the Holy Spirit that conforms the human conscience of the redeemed to pursue the production of divine fruit (Galatians 5:16-23) and it is the “fruit” that fulfills the intent of all moral law; it is divine fruit that actually pleases the Father and proves one to be a disciple of Jesus (John 15:8).
Christians don’t pursue Sinai’s Commandments given solely to Israel’s children and those seeking refuge in that theocracy.
Sinai’s Commandments are but a mere fraction of the comprehensive Spiritual Law infused within human kind on Day-6 of Creation (Romans 2:14-15).
Christians don’t pursue laws, days, diets, but Christians honor the entire LAW through the anointing of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14) as He produces divine “fruit” (Galatians 5:16-23) through the redeemed in Jesus and this fruit fulfills all law and actually pleases the Father and proves one to be a legitimate disciple of Jesus (John 15:8).
If a Christian never observed the Torah, had no access to same, their walk with the Spirit would be unhindered.
Must you believe that Jesus is Deity, God, Elohim, I AM, in order to be saved?
Believing with a sincere heart that Jesus is Messiah who died to pay your sin-debt owed the Father in conjunction with believing that Jesus was resurrected from the dead for your justification, these are essentials to salvation, the initiation of New Covenant relationship with the Father (Romans 10:9-10)……BUT……if one proclaims them self to be redeemed, a Christian, and they reject the Deity of Jesus, THESE ARE NOT CHRISTIAN, THEY ARE NOT REDEEMED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE HOLY DOES NOT RESIDE WITHIN THEM AS GUARANTOR OF NEW COVENANT PROMISE (Ephesians 1:13-14) as the Holy Spirit teaches the necessity for Messiah’s Deity.
Jesus warned,
“Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am “He,” you will die in your sins.”John 8:24 (NASB)
In John 8:24, the word “he” is added by translators. While English Bibles (like the NIV or KJV) use “I am he,” the original Greek simply says “I am” (egō eimi). This directly mirrors the divine name used in the Old Testament (Exodus 3:14), with Jesus claiming equality with God.
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”John 8:58 (NASB)
Again: the original Greek says “I am” (egō eimi). This directly mirrors the divine name used in the Old Testament (Exodus 3:14), with Jesus claiming equality with God.
The Jewish audience and their religious leadership clearly understood Jesus’ proclamation of Deity and sought to murder Jesus by stoning; ultimately, charging Jesus with “blasphemy” and handing Him over to Pilate, Herod, for execution.
In Hebrews 1, the Father clearly proclaims Jesus to be “God” and Creator and the Father commands the angels to worship Him. I believe the Father. You should as well!
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.Colossians 2:9-10 (NASB)
Religionist said: “It’s so weird when so called believers try to argue against following the Lord’s commandments.”
Christian response,
Those who are “believers,” having been born again into the New Covenant, understand the process of “commandment” keeping as it relates to the Spirit’s work via the “new creation” in Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17).
If one desires to honor Messiah’s commandments, they must first honor HIM and the Father through faith believing that Jesus is Messiah who died for them and was resurrected for them (Romans 10:9-10) and it is by “believing” that one receives the indwelling Holy Spirit as the Seal and Guarantor of New Covenant relationship (Ephesians 1:13-14).
It is then, by the anointing of the indwelling Holy Spirit, that the redeemed, the new creation, begins a journey of daily sanctification (a setting apart from the World) and the Holy Spirit begins to produce divine fruit through the redeemed (Galatians 5:16-23) and it is this divine fruit that fulfills all law; both, codified and spiritual and it is that fruit that pleases the Father and proves one to be a legitimate disciple of Jesus (John 15:8).
Christianity is NOT about pursuing laws, days, diets, traditions, clothing, but Christianity is about a personal, divine, relationship with the Father through faith in the Son and life anointed by the indwelling Holy Spirit, walking in peace with Elohim, producing fruit that furthers and honors the Kingdom. Christians serve the Spirit, not Moses.
Skeptic asked: “Which Church can historically trace itself back to the Apostles without interruption???”
Biblical response,
Any Church whose doctrine emphasizes that salvation, righteousness (a right standing) with our Heavenly Father, can only become reality through adherence to the precepts of the Gospel; that is, believing with a sincere heart that Jesus is our Messiah who died to pay our sin-debt owed the Father, a debt that cannot be paid by human effort, and by believing that Jesus rose from the dead for our justification leading to eternal life.
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
If you’re seeking to attach an entity to what represents “death” and ‘Hell,” Satan would be your guy. If you’re looking for the Scripture that coincides with “death” and “Hell” your translation is incorrect as “Hell” does not accompany death but death and “Hades” are relegated to Hell.
Death represents the “second death” of those who died rejecting the grace of the Father in Jesus our Messiah, Hades – torments is the holding place for the unrighteous Old and New Testament rebellious (Luke 16) who died rejecting Jesus…these are resurrected at the initiation of the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev 20:11-15) and they receive a resurrected body of corruption and stand before Jesus for adjudication; they are subsequently adjudicated guilty for their works and death, Hades, are cast into the Lake of Fire (Hell) where they will cease to exist, eternally, as no place if found for their iniquity in the Kingdom (Rev 21:27).
1 John 1:9 is not about forgiveness of sin relevant to restoration of New Covenant promise but about the restoration of intimacy with Elohim. If sin in a Christian’s life could negate the grace of the Cross, then no one could be redeemed by faith as grace would be fleeting and dependent upon works/behavior throughout the lifetime of the Christian.
When one enters into New Covenant relationship with the Father via faith in Jesus as Messiah, they are gifted-imputed the perfection, sinlessness, of Jesus and made “positionally right” with the Father due New Covenant promise (2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 8:12) and they are considered, by the Father, to be perfect…which is necessary if one is to enter the Kingdom of Elohim subsequent death of the body in Time (Revelation 21:27).
1 John 1:9 is provided the Christian by the Holy Spirit not as a restorative prayer of relationship concerning salvation, 1 John 1:9 is given for restoration of intimacy and joy and peace with Elohim which are disrupted by disobedience…much like a wayward child and their parents…the child does not cease to be family due disobedience but relationship and intimacy suffers until things are reconciled.
Even if a Christian sins with aforethought, that sin does NOT break New Covenant promise but the true Christian will be quick to repent as the loss of intimacy is unbearable. If one could see the mind of the Father when a Christian repents, the Father would say, “what sin?”…the Father will not break His Covenant…we repent and seek forgiveness for our own well being as fractured intimacy with our LORD is a miserable life indeed.
Religious Cults: What are they as compared to Biblical Christianity?
A “religious cult” is any belief system, organizational theology, Church doctrine, that adds to the sole-sufficiency of Jesus our Messiah to provide full atonement for sin through the shedding of His sinless blood at Golgotha, an atonement that is actuated by faith, alone, in Jesus, alone. Jesus + NOTHING = atonement for sin, salvation, eternal life, the receiving of the indwelling Holy Spirit as Guarantor/Seal of New Covenant promise. Salvation is purely a divine Gift of Grace (unmerited favor) that no one born of Adam’s seed (Romans 5:12) can attain through observing laws, days, diets, clothing, traditions, rituals (Galatians 2:16; Romans 4:4-5).
A few outstanding examples of religious cults today are,
1) Catholicism – a works doctrine
2) Mormonism – a works doctrine
3) Jehovah’s Witness – a works doctrine and false Jesus
4) Church of Christ (not all but far too many) – a works doctrine
5) Seventh Day Adventists – a works doctrine
6) Black Hebrew Israelites – a works doctrine
7) Pentecostalism – those factions of Churches of Charismata that teach “speaking in tongues” as a prerequisite for salvation
Why is Jesus’ blood atonement sufficient atonement without the addition of water baptism or obedience/observance of the law? Why can’t a man or woman be sufficiently obedient to please Elohim and earn or assist in their own salvation? Let’s look at Adam, Sacrificial Law, Isaiah, Jesus, for the answer.
1) As early as Genesis 3:21, Elohim has told humanity that He, Himself, would provide those of faith an imputed-gifted robe of righteousness, a righteousness that human kind can never attain through works. This promise of Elohim was fulfilled by Messiah Jesus 4000-years later on a Roman Cross at Golgotha outside the gates of the Old City, Jerusalem (2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 8:12).
Subsequent Adam’s compromise with sin, Adam began to manifest the symptoms of a fallen nature; that is, fear, shame, obfuscation. Adam hid from Elohim; Adam attempted to cover his shame – his nakedness with fig leaves; Adam obfuscated his sin and blamed his wife for their compromise with evil.
Elohim confronted Adam and in Adam’s presence, Elohim, Himself, shed innocent blood and took the skins of animals and clothed Adam and Eve in a gifted, imputed, robe of righteousness; a robe of forgiveness that Adam did not earn nor did he deserve.
Elohim, having clothed Adam and Eve in a robe of righteousness declared that the fig leaves, the works of Adam’s hands, was NOT accepted or sufficient to cover the shame of sin. A lesson often times overlooked by the members of religious cults.
2) Throughout the Old Covenant of Law, the children of Jacob, the Priests, were commanded to sacrifice specific animals for specific sins. Oddly enough, we learn in Hebrews 10:4 that the blood of animals, the work of animal sacrifice, was not sufficient to take away sin; so then, what was Elohim teaching through the bloody centuries of slain animals?
Elohim was teaching that the act or work of slaying an animal and bringing that animal to the altar as a covering for the sins of the individual and the sins of Israel’s children was not what ingratiated or initiated the forgiveness of sin or righteousness with Elohim, but it was the FAITH of the one offering the sacrifice that engendered favor with and forgiveness from Elohim; that is, the one offering the blood sacrifice demonstrated their “faith” in Elohim as they earnestly “believed” that Elohim would do exactly as He had promised in the Law. It was FAITH, not the works, that engendered Covenant-Righteousness.
3) Isaiah, penning Scripture by inspiration of Elohim the Holy Spirit, provides an Earth shattering statement in Isaiah 64:6 where he writes;
“We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted (filthy) garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” Isaiah 64:6 (ESV) (filthy = NASB)
Isaiah teaches that on our best day, our efforts to be obedient, to keep laws, rules, regulations, traditions, diets, in order to please Elohim are interpreted by Elohim as a “filthy garment” – in the literal Hebrew: “a bloody menstrual cloth in the nose of Elohim.”
If our human efforts focused on obedience are not sufficient to please Elohim the Father, what can be done to achieve sufficient righteousness or a “right standing” with Elohim?
4) Jesus provides an answer concerning human works and righteousness with Elohim the Father in His divine discourse recorded in Matthew 7:21-23 which reads;
“Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”
First, one must ask in light of this discourse by Jesus, what is the will/work of Jesus’ Heavenly Father, Elohim the Father? Jesus answers that question for us here;
Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” John 6:29 (ESV) The will of Elohim the Father is to believe in Jesus as your Messiah (John 3).
Jesus then articulates the works of those who have called Him Lord (Lord, meaning Earthly Master – one having authority over others) and when we theologically analyze each of the works listed, not one can be considered as “evil” on their face; in fact, the works are wonderful and obviously oriented toward honoring the Kingdom of Elohim.
So then, the next logical question is this: Why did Jesus refer to the works of those calling Him “Lord” as evil?
The answer lies in Jesus admonition/condemnation at the close of the discourse: “I never knew you…”
What is Jesus teaching here?
Jesus is teaching “COVENANT RELATIONSHIP – FIRST // WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS SECOND.
In other words, if one desires to honor Jesus or the Father or the Spirit through works of righteousness; If one desires to honor Jesus’ Commandments (John 14:15), you must FIRST establish New Covenant Relationship with Elohim the Father by faith in the Son, Jesus our Messiah, receive the indwelling Holy Spirit as Guarantor of New Covenant relationship (Ephesians 1:13-14); once Covenant relationship is established by faith, the redeemed will then obediently via spiritual anointing allow the indwelling Holy Spirit to produce divine fruit (Galatians 5:16-23) through them, divine fruit that fulfills all law (spiritual & codified); divine fruit that pleases the Father and proves you to be a disciple of Jesus (John 15:8).
In closing,
Religious cults deceptively sell you “snake oil” when they teach a works salvation; that is, religious cults teach that in addition to Jesus’ blood atonement for sin, you must be baptized in water; you must attend the mass; you must take part in the Eucharist; you must pay your indulgences; you must walk door-to-door and proselytize for your particular religion; you must keep the Laws of Torah; on and on it goes in infinity…you must add a particular human effort to Jesus’ blood atonement in order to be saved, forgiven of sin, receive eternal life. DON’T BELIEVE THE WOLVES IN SHEEPS CLOTHING!
Innocent substitute. Replaced fig leave of human righteousness.Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,
Snake Oil sales pitch: “Faith that saves includes obedience.”
Incorrect. Faith saves through grace (unmerited favor), a gift that even obedience cannot earn. Once faith, belief, is established in Jesus and redemption is present via the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14), the redeemed having been “born again” (John 3; 2 Corinthians 5:17) they naturally begin to produce divine (Galatians 5:16-23) fruit via the anointing and sanctification of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
This production of fruit (Galatians 5:16-23) is what pleases the Father and proves one to be a disciple of Jesus (John 15:8), but obedience is NOT an element of salvation, faith/grace are.
Obedience that pleases the Father is the production of divine fruit via the anointing of the indwelling Holy Spirit that FOLLOWS salvation by faith, alone. When your faith “includes” obedience for salvation, you’re a religious cult as you negate the sufficiency of Jesus’ blood to atone for your sin apart from works/obedience. Your selling snake oil, I’m not buying.
In closing, it’s very important to remember that your works, your obedience, as strategies to please the Father and earn your forgiveness, this is self-righteousness and the Father considers your works for self-righteousness as a “filthy garment” (or in the Hebrew – a bloody menstrual cloth) (Isaiah 64:6).
We don’t work, strive to keep laws, be obedient, to be saved, it’s a gift of grace (unmerited favor) from the Father earned for us by Jesus at Golgotha. A Christian works because the indwelling Holy Spirit arbitrates the spiritual law written upon their heart during daily Christian sanctification and thereby produces fruit through them, this is Christian obedience in the New Covenant and that divine fruit fulfills all law that governs obedience.
Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,
Theological conundrum? No one but the Father knows the Day of the end of the Age of Grace? Why not the Son or the Spirit? Are they not all coequal in deific attributes?
The Father is the Administrator of the Trinity and the Creation narrative and its reason for being; therefore, the Son and the Spirit honor the Father’s authority concerning that Day, why?
That Day, the end of the age of grace, remains fluid as free will remains essential in this temporary Realm of Time as it has always been essential and integral in the Spiritual Realm.
The Father desires that “all men be saved and come to a knowledge of the Truth” (1 Timothy 2:4) and the Father has a predetermined number of men and women who will come to faith in the Son, not a predestination of individuals or choice, but a free will inspired number of men and women who will come to faith in the Gospel and when that particular number is fulfilled, the end of this age of grace will have been fulfilled…the Father is patiently awaiting for that number of redeemed to enter into New Covenant relationship with Him via faith in the Son; this specific number can be theorized to equate to the number of angelic creatures who followed Satan in the great Rebellion; this, as we know our creation abhors a vacuum and there is a consistent striving for a vacuum/void to return to a state of stasis; therefore, when the number of fallen angelic beings has been replenished by the redeemed in Jesus, the end of this age of grace will reach a conclusion and a unique dispensation of works and grace will manifest in the Millennial Kingdom; an era of personal and corporate sacrifice and adoration given the resurrected Son who will receive the Kingdom denied Him at His first Advent; this, as the Evil One is placed in custody and denied access to Human Kind for 1000-years.
Finally, concerning the signs of the end of the age of grace prefacing the Millennial Kingdom?
Elohim has repeatedly told His faithful that if one desires to know where He is positoned concerning eschatology, always watch His people, the children of Jacob, in the Land that He has granted them through Abraham, the Land of Israel.
It is relevant for the faithful to understand that before that Day will manifest, there will be nuclear proliferation in the Middle East via the efforts of Islam and Islam’s allies; namely, Russian and China.
There will be an exponential increase in anti-Semitism, with an emphasis of Jewish/Israeli hatred in the West; ultimately, Israel will be perceived as the genesis and causation of the World’s woes and problems. The West will have been made impotent militarily, ethically and monetarily due compromise with Satan’s Marxist perversions.
Representatives of the Axis of Evil, Islam-Russia-China, will stage outside of the City of Jerusalem and a limited nuclear event will manifest; that nuclear event pictured in Jesus’ Revelation to John; this will trigger Messiah’s return to Mount Olivette. It is at that Time that the Nations who have warred against Israel will be destroyed. The entirety of Israel’s children will see their Messiah and believe. Our Messiah will enter through the currently walled-off Eastern Gate and initiate His Millennial Reign from the City of Jerusalem. MARANATHA!
