Works of the Law, or Works of Faith.

In the military, soldiers can follow a leader because they fear them, or because they trust them and have faith in them. The ones that obey out of fear of punishment usually just do what they are told, just doing the bare minimum. They also usually are the ones that just complete their contract, and are out of the military after that. The ones that obey their leaders because they trust them and have faith in them, are always the ones with the best looking uniforms, and do more than what they are asked, and go above and beyond the call of duty. They are the ones that, once their contract is at its end, will usually re-enlist for a few more years. Some may even become leaders themselves and stay in until they retire.

What does that have to do with theology?  Well, those that obey out of fear are like those that preform works of the law, or good works in order to obtain and maintain salvation.  Those that obey out of faith, are like those that do works of faith, like repentance and baptism, because we have a saving faith in Christ.  They both obey, but their motives are different, and as a result, when their contracts were at their end, there were different results.  Lets take a look at these types of "good works".

Works of the law are a bit more than just obeying the commandments, but can be seen as any step of obedience in order to gain and/or maintain salvation.  The issues with these types of works is that it takes the glory away from God.  In a way it is insulting to God by saying that what Jesus did on the cross wasn't good enough to pay the punishment for our sins.  It is also in violation of scripture; Ephesians 2:8-9 "8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."  Trying to be saved through works of the law is saying that we are saved by what we do, so that we can boast.

Works of faith are works that we do because of the faith that we have in Christ.  Yes, works of faith do involve obeying the 10 Commandments, but our motive for obeying is different.  We are not obeying through a fear of punishment, or so that we can earn our way into Heaven, and not even to so that we may keep our salvation.  We obey God through our faith in Him and want to do His will.  Abraham, David, etc... had faith in God, and because of that faith they did His will, and obeyed Him.  Baptism is a step of obedience that we do because we have a saving faith.  In James 2:26 when he said "For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead." he is talking these works of faith, like keeping the commandments, like confessing our sins, like repentance, and baptism. 


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Ho Ho...No!

Taken from "Wretched Newsletter" from WretchedRadio.com

'Tis the season of spiritual pressure. It's bad enough that society forces us to have a holly jolly Christmas, but it is even worse when the church does that. Beware!
It is true that the Old Testament saints participated in festivals that were spiritual highlights. But we live under a new and better covenant (Hebrews 8). Col. 2:16 and 17 tells us, "Let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ."

Because we are in Christ, EVERY DAY is a festival. EVERY DAY we rejoice. What exactly does that look like? Bottom line? It's up to you.

The Christian walk should not be a desert until you get to the next holiday oasis. Instead, as we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, every day should be Gospel centered. We no longer have pictures of salvation, we have the real thing, Jesus.

If you have a knock out Christmas, great. If you don't, do not fret or get the holiday blues. The world and the contemporary church can heap on the pressure to make sure that Dec.25 is a spiritual humdinger. If it turns out that way for you, praise God. If it doesn't, praise God.

And if you are spiritually parched, don't wait for Easter to get watered. Instead, preach the Gospel to yourself daily and partake of the spiritual food that God has prepared for: Bible reading, prayer, fellowship, Lord's supper. This is one banquet you can feast on every day and never have to worry about gaining weight.

Merry Christmas. Or not.

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Tomorrow Night, Don't Miss It!

Image via WikipediaThis is from Living Waters Newsletter.

Kirk will be interviewing Ray on TBN on Thursday night (9th December), on the final portion of the Praise program.

Then Ray will be preaching for 15 minutes.

Seizing opportunities like this instantly expose millions across the globe to Living Waters and its evangelistic resources. Ultimately, this could mean countless churched and lost reached through biblical evangelism principles, as people become trained and equipped to preach without fear. Please pray that a passion for the lost will be stirred up within those who watch.

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The Necessity of Baptism

For some background info, a few months ago someone left a comment on my blog to check out their blog.  I have been for the past couple of months now.  One big thing I noticed was that this guy seems pretty legalistic in his views, especially on salvation and what baptism has to do with it. 

The following is from a big book called "Systematic Theology", by Wayne Grudem, which is a book I recommend to be on anyones' bookshelf if they want to seriously study Christian theology.  I agree with what this book has to say on the subject, and if you agree or disagree I would love if you would leave a comment explaining why.

"While we recognize that Jesus commanded baptism (Matt. 28:19), as did the apostles (Acts 2:38), we should not say that baptism is necessary for salvation."..."To say that baptism or any other action is necessary for salvation is to say that we are not justified by faith alone, but by faith plus a certain "work," the work of baptism.  The apostle Paul would have opposed the idea that baptism is necessary for salvation just as strongly as he opposed the similar idea that circumcision was necessary for salvation (see Gal. 5:1-12)

Those who argue that baptism is necessary for salvation often point to Mark 16:16 "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned."  But the very evident answer to this is simply to say that the verse says nothing about those who believe and are not baptized.  The verse is simply talking about general cases without making a pedantic qualification for the unusual case of someone who believes and is not baptized.  But certainly the verse should not be pressed into service and mad to speak of something it is not talking about.

More to the point is Jesus' statement to the dying thief on the cross, "Today you will be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43).  The thief could not be baptized before he died on the cross, but he was certainly saved that day.  Moreover, the force of this point cannot be evaded by arguing that the thief was saved under the old covenant (under which baptism was not necessary to salvation), because the new covenant took effect at the death of Jesus (see Heb. 9:17), and Jesus died beforeeither of the two thieves who were crucified with him (see John 19:32-33).

Another reason why baptism is not necessary for salvation is that our justification from sins takes place at the point of saving faith, not at the point of water baptism, which usually occurs later.  But if a person is already justified and has sins forgiven eternally at the point of saving faith, then baptism is not necessary for forgiveness  of sins, or for the bestowal of new spiritual life.

Baptism, then, is not necessary for salvation.  But it is necessary if we are to be obedient to Christ, for he commanded baptism for all who believe in him."

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RE: Halloween Witnessing Tip From Trish.

(This is a repost from last year)

This is a two minute witnessing tip from Trish Ramos at fishwithtrish.blogspot.com. Check out her blog for more tips, stories, and even some contest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdvbeNYuFL0

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An Interesting Quiz

Taken from The Evidence Bible.

How would you respond in these situations?


1. A preacher and his wife are very, very poor. They already have 14 kids. Now she finds out she’s pregnant with the 15th. They’re living in tremendous poverty. Considering their poverty and the excessive world population, would you consider recommending she get an abortion?

2. The father is sick with sniffles, the mother has TB. Of their four children, the first is blind, the second has died, the third is deaf, the fourth has TB. She finds she’s pregnant again. Given this extreme situation, would you consider recommending abortion?

3. A white man raped a 13-year-old black girl and she’s now pregnant. If you were her parents, would you consider recommending abortion?

4. A teenage girl is pregnant. She’s not married. Her fiancé is not the father of the baby, and he’s upset. Would you recommend abortion?

In the first case, you would have killed John Wesley, one of the great evangelists in the 19th century. In the second case, you would have killed Beethoven. In the third case, you would have killed Ethel Waters, the great black gospel singer. If you said yes to the fourth case, you would have declared the murder of Jesus Christ!

God is the author of life, and He has givenevery single individual supreme value. Each life—whether inside or outside the womb—should therefore be valued by us. God knows the plans He has for each individual and has written in His book all the days ordained for us before one of them came to be. When we presume to know better than God who should be given life, we are putting ourselves in the place of God and are guilty of idolatry.

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A Quote for This Week.

I was reading a book that has a quote in it from a former President that I'd like to share.  Especially for those people of the "post-modern" mind set.

"How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg?  Four; calling the tail a leg doesn't make it a leg."
Abraham Lincoln

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