THE LAW
Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. "Many will say to Me on that day, `Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' "And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'” Matthew 7:21-23. That’s the law. If we don’t do the will of Jesus’ Father, don’t waste our breath praying. Save our oxygen. He will not listen to us, because Jesus never knew us, lawbreakers. Only Satan will hear us. Jesus wants nothing to do with those who practice lawlessness. And God the Father does not want to have anything to do with lawbreakers either. And neither should you. Stay away from lawbreakers regardless of what color of robes, suits, or hats they wear.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” Jesus said that He is not a lawbreaker, and neither should we if we are true followers of Jesus Christ. We should never conspire with preachers to practice lawlessness in the church. Stay away from them unless they change. They are not our friends. Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15. He also said, "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one title will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches [them], he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds [the righteousness] of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:18-20.
Do you know why Jesus said what He said in Matthew 5:17? Because His law is perfect. But why did Paul want to change God’s law and teach others to believe in his nonsense? Because Paul was a killer. Paul does what he wants to do. He really doesn’t care about what Jesus says. And all of Jesus' disciples were intimidated by Paul except the Apostle James.
Paul wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; [it is] the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9.
What was the basis of what Paul wrote in Ephesians? I believe he was thinking about the thief on the cross whom Jesus had saved, faith, grace, and no work. How many thieves on the cross did Jesus save? Only one. All the others died on the cross. Why? Because they could not show any good work.
The Apostle John in Revelation 20:12-13 wrote about his vision, “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is [the Book] of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.” None will be judged by their faith only, none!
If we say that we have faith in Jesus but do what Paul wants us to do, is that proof that we have faith in Jesus, or do we have faith in Paul? And is Paul going to save us when Jesus returns? I want you to seriously think about that.
hkhoe@thexcommandments.com