Please explain this.

[Helen]

I guessss you know that we don't think that any works saves....but the saved should support their church and do Good Deeds.

( posted by grailhunter to @charity )

Oh good..a post I can have a conversation with you in.
I think that you are one of the few, who can disagree agreeably.

And what I bolded , therein is the rub.t

I got delivered from 'Ought-ism' about 45 years ago.
So many feel free to tell new Christians what they "ought" to do, now they are a Christian. ( what we do is - "walk in the Spirit" )

We don't 'have' to do anything... my dear brother and sister in law are worn out "doing"...for their church group.
"Because that is what Christians do".. WRONG.
That is what the Martha's do.
The Mary's - sit at His feet....and what they hear , they do.

"Doing without hearing", is nothing but a treadwheel.
One person can do ten things that they were told, or feel they 'ought' to do.
Another person listens and maybe only heard one thing that God directed him or her to do. And he does that.

And time alone will tell us on who's side the scales fall , re gold, silver and precious stones. Which was a lasting work, and which were ashes.

But, my brother and sister in law believe that with all their busyness for the church they are doing Gods will. And, if that makes them happy..good for them. They actually believe that they don't need to hear from God what they should do. If the church asks them...it must be God.

An easy way not requiring any 'getting quiet' , spending time, or hearing direction from God.

I have always been haunted by that verse Moses spoke on the mount.

" If Thy PRESENCE goes not with us, then take us not up hence."

I have learned the hard way, the difference of working for God, and working with God.

We 'do' because we love Him...we don't 'do' because we 'Ought-to'.

Just my two cents. You can 'pick the bones'. :)

 

[marks]

I have learned the hard way, the difference of working for God, and working with God.

"My yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

 

[Lady Crosstalk]

Hi Lady C,
Good deeds are useless for salvation.
God wants our heart.
For sanctification...they ARE necessary. I agree that we WANT to do the best we can for ourselves, our family and others.

But to say they are not necessary for sanctification shows that a person does not have a proper understanding of what sanctification is.

Justification is a moment and makes a person just as if they never sinned....a definition one of my pastors liked a lot. So at that moment, we become friends with God and are saved or born again in the spirit.

Sanctification is a two-way street. It lasts an entire lifetime and is a cooperative effort between God and man. You want God to do everything?!

Remember that knowing what to do and not doing it is also sin.
James 4:17

Sanctification works on our sin nature instead of taking sins away.
This does not take one moment but a lifetime. Our nature is cleansed
and is restored as mush as possible to the way God meant it to be.
Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for empowerment of the Holy Spirit. We also receive this empowerment through sanctification (of the heart, we can say).

Hebrews 5:8-9
8Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.
9And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,

Jesus became salvation to those who obey Him.
It's not right to say we obey because we want to.
We do want to...but we also have to.



You are misrepresenting the New Covenant.
The Abrahamic Covenant was UNILATERAL. This is correct.

However, it's not correct that God required nothing of Abraham.
God required that he leave his home of Harran.
God required that he lead a people.
God required that he sacrifice his son. (which didn't happen)

Abraham OBEYED God from the very beginning in
Genesis 12:1 when he left his home.

Verse 4 states that Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him.
God has always demanded obedience. Blessings to the nations that bless Abraham and curses to those that do not.

As to the New Covenant, I'll only say that you have to be IN IT.
And the MORAL LAW has NOT been abolished.
Can you tell me what the difference is between the Abrahamic and the New?

Faith only was NEVER believed by the early church.


The more grace you need,,,the more you get.
A Christian is not prideful of what he does.
If so...he is committing the sin of pride; a sin at the base of all the others.

Jesus did nothing but speak of what we are TO DO.
If you check, you'll find that he only spoke of salvation a few times.

James 2:26 Both the body AND THE SPIRIT are dead without works.

And as to the gifts as the Bema Seat:
John 5:28-29
We will be judged by our deeds.

The problem with your theology is that you can never know if you are "good enough" to avoid having Jesus say, "I never knew you..." I have a VERY strong objection to this statement of yours: "Sanctification is a two-way street. It lasts an entire lifetime and is a cooperative effort between God and man. You want God to do everything?!" GOD DOES DO EVERYTHING. Any other thought is to take credit where none is due. Jesus said, "Without Me you can do nothing." He did NOT say, "Well, sometimes you can do something and sometimes I do something. And together we will see to your sanctification." HE IS "THE AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF OUR FAITH."

 

[GodsGrace]

Because you are giving the right answer to the wrong question...which makes it the wrong answer to the topic question.

The topic is not not "obeying God by doing good works." The topic is rather, (paraphrased) "Is works required for one to be saved?"

So, what is your answer to that question: Are works required for one to be saved? Yes, or No?

Didn't get an alert for this...
I have a question to clarify....
You mean to be initially saved
or do you mean to be saved all my life?

To be initially saved, the answer is
NO

But, you know, I'd like to REMAIN saved all my life...
and that requires obedience to God...so the answer then would be
YES

1. We believe in GOD FATHER, the creator, that He sent His only Son to show us how to please Him and be able to be in His presence for eternity.
   
   If we do and behave as Jesus would want us to we are assured of salvation.
   otherwise, how can we be if we behave as the world behaves??
   
   I'm saying that works keep us saved because it shows that we are living in the Kingdom.
   Works, because we want to be in the Kingdom.
   NOT because we want to get in.
   
   Getting in is free.
   Ephesians 2:8
   
   Staying in has a price. Jesus said to consider carefully if we wanted to truly follow Him because there would be a price to pay.
   Mathew 16:24-27
   Mathew 16:27
   
   Verse 27 says that the Son of Man will recompense every man according to his deeds.
   Recompense.
   Please see:
   John 5:28-29 Jesus clearly means life and destruction

 

[Nancy]

( posted to @charity )

Oh good..a post I can have a conversation with you in.
I think that you are one of the few, who can disagree agreeably.

And what I bolded , therein is the rub.t

I got delivered from 'Ought-ism' about 45 years ago.
So many feel free to tell new Christians what they "ought" to do, now they are a Christian. ( what we do is - "walk in the Spirit" )

We don't 'have' to do anything... my dear brother and sister in law are worn out "doing"...for their church group.
"Because that is what Christians do".. WRONG.
That is what the Martha's do.
The Mary's - sit at His feet....and what they hear , they do.

"Doing without hearing", is nothing but a treadwheel.
One person can do ten things that they were told, or feel they 'ought' to do.
Another person listens and maybe only heard one thing that God directed him or her to do. And he does that.

And time alone will tell us on who's side the scales fall , re gold, silver and precious stones. Which was a lasting work, and which were ashes.

But, my brother and sister in law believe that with all their busyness for the church they are doing Gods will. And, if that makes them happy..good for them. They actually believe that they don't need to hear from God what they should do. If the church asks them...it must be God.

An easy way not requiring any 'getting quiet' , spending time, or hearing direction from God.

I have always been haunted by that verse Moses spoke on the mount.

" If Thy PRESENCE goes not with us, then take us not up hence."

I have learned the hard way, the difference of working for God, and working with God.

We 'do' because we love Him...we don't 'do' because we 'Ought-to'.

Just my two cents. You can 'pick the bones'. :)

Nah Helen, no meat left on them bones, lol - you hit the nail on the head. You are so right about the waiting and listening for His direction. I see so many people at Church running around like headless chickens! All stressed out and no time to talk! Busy, busy busy! And then I hear some of them actually COMPLAIN about it! Yikes! To me, that is nothing BUT the works of the flesh, or work to please other men. Goodness, He has ALREADY prepared these works FOR us to walk into! Amen sistah!!!

 

[Episkopos]

Nah Helen, no meat left on them bones, lol - you hit the nail on the head. You are so right about the waiting and listening for His direction. I see so many people at Church running around like headless chickens! All stressed out and no time to talk! Busy, busy busy! And then I hear some of them actually COMPLAIN about it! Yikes! To me, that is nothing BUT the works of the flesh, or work to please other men. Goodness, He has ALREADY prepared these works FOR us to walk into! Amen sistah!!!

Amen. We need to quieten down...not get too caught up in the noises of human activity....to listen within to the leading of the Spirit...ALL the time. It's a more meditative way of being I guess.

From that place God is able to speak to us...even in the hustle and bustle of very busy lives.

Jesus already worked out our walks for us...in advance. He listened to His Father for 30 years as a busy human being...BEFORE He even began His earthly ministry.

So we can ALWAYS be focused on Him...in ALL circumstances. This has been already prepared for us.

 

[GodsGrace]

The problem with your theology is that you can never know if you are "good enough" to avoid having Jesus say, "I never knew you..." I have a VERY strong objection to this statement of yours: "Sanctification is a two-way street. It lasts an entire lifetime and is a cooperative effort between God and man. You want God to do everything?!" GOD DOES DO EVERYTHING. Any other thought is to take credit where none is due. Jesus said, "Without Me you can do nothing." He did NOT say, "Well, sometimes you can do something and sometimes I do something. And together we will see to your sanctification."

Wow. I'm not getting alerts!
Saw this by mistake...

It's not MY theology LC....I don't make up theology, theologians do that. I just listen and learn and read my bible and use my common sense and have learned from two mainline churches and agree with their teaching as to what salvation is.

I don't have any problem wondering if I'm doing enough.
Maybe I'm not doing anything right now.

Jesus didn't say I NEVER KNEW YOU to those not working enough.
Some scripture is so misused.
Jesus said I NEVER KNEW YOU to those practicing LAWLESSNESS.
Those NOT PRACTICING THE LAW. Mathew 7:23

You can object to what sanctification means...but you cannot change its meaning.
You said God DOES DO EVERYTHING.

So...did He:
1. clean the house for you.
2. take the kids to school.
3. make food for your family.
4. be nice to the cashier at the store.
5. remember to pay all your bills.
6. ask your needy neighbor if there's something he could do for her.
7. tell the truth for you when someone asks you something
etc etc etc

You're very lucky if God does all this for you.
I have to do it myself...WITH HIS HELP.

This is from GotQuestions....can't get more liberal.

Do you know who John Piper is?

Maybe you'd prefer to read about it.

The Holy Spirit not only is the restoration of the presence of God in believers; he also equips believers to serve the church and the world. As the fruit of the Spirit are the result of the reproduction of godly character in believers ( Gal 5:22-23 ), so the gifts of the Spirit ( Rom 12:4-6 ; 1 Cor 12 , 14 ) are the means by which believers serve others.

Though God sanctifies by grace, human beings are responsible to appropriate God's grace by faith. Faith is "the" means of sanctifying grace. The Bible indicates that there are other means at the disposal of believers to promote the direct faith the Word, prayer, the church, and providence. The Word reveals God's will ( John 17:17 ). Prayer allows the believer to apply faith to every area of life. The church is the context in which mutual ministry takes place. Providence is God's superintendence over every detail of life so that a believer will always have a way to grow in grace. Whether abounding or not ( Php 4:11 ), whether certain of the outcome or not ( Est 4:11-5:3 ), the people of God may sanctify each situation knowing that God has allowed it and is present in it. In the case of temptation, the believer knows that there always will be a sanctifying faith response available ( 1 Cor 10:13 ). When God disciplines his children, it is for their good, that they may "share in his holiness" ( Heb 12:10 ).

God detests sacrifices that are not offered by faith ( Psalm 40:6 ; Heb 10:5-7 ). On the other hand, a person is sanctified by presenting to God offerings that he proscribes ( 1 Sam 16:5 ; Job 1:5 ). In New Testament language, we present ourselves as "living sacrifices" ( Rom 12:1 ). According to the old covenant, sacrifices are usually slain. Yet in the new covenant a believer dies with Christ in order to live a new holy life in the power of Christ's resurrection and in identification with Christ's suffering ( Rom 6:1-11 ; Gal 2:20 ; Php 3:8-10 ).

source: What is Sanctification? Bible Definition and Meaning



and:


Martin Luther, taught in his Large Catechism that Sanctification is only caused by the Holy Spiritthrough the powerful Word of God. The Holy Spirit uses churches to gather Christians together for the teaching and preaching of the Word of God.[9]

Sanctification is the Holy Spirit's work of making us holy. When the Holy Spirit creates faith in us, he renews in us the image of God so that through his power we produce good works. These good works are not meritorious but show the faith in our hearts (Ephesians 2:8-10, James 2:18). Sanctification flows from justification. It is an on-going process which will not be complete or reach perfection in this life.[10]

Luther also viewed the Ten Commandments as means by which the Holy Spirit sanctifies.

"Thus we have the Ten Commandments, a commend of divine doctrine, as to what we are to do in order that our whole life may be pleasing to God, and the true fountain and channel from and in which everything must arise and flow that is to be a good work, so that outside of the Ten Commandments no work or thing can be good or pleasing to God, however great or precious it be in the eyes of the world...whoever does attain to them is a heavenly, angelic man, far above all holiness of the world. Only occupy yourself with them, and try your best, apply all power and ability, and you will find so much to do that you will neither seek nor esteem any other work or holiness."[11]

Pietistic Lutheranism heavily emphasizes the "biblical divine commands of believers to live a holy life and to strive for holy living, or sanctification."[12]

source: Sanctification - Wikipedia

 

[ScottA]

I'll cut into the dance. :)

There is no cookie cutter answer to that question. It depends what level of salvation one is speaking of.

For a saint...no human works are possible to attain to Christ. It is Christ in us.


For the saved of the nations in the next age who are judged for their HUMAN works in this life....YES. Good works are required and are the very basis for admittance into the future kingdom of God....but as guests of the Lamb...not the Bride. These come from the highways and byways from every nation and tongue and are both good and bad. BUT they loved their neighbour. The fulfilled the royal law.

So the believer will be judged by the holiness standard...loving both God AND people.

But for the basic skin of your teeth salvation of the righteous.....the royal law is to love others as yourself. The righteous are scarcely saved after all.

OK I know that is too biblical to swallow for most...

There are a few debatable points there... But, I would keep things simpler, until the basics are established:

Both "folds" are brought into salvation by Christ by their "belief", which indeed comes by some difference. Whether by faith or by word or by inspiration, each is belief nonetheless. Before the coming of Christ, belief in the promise of His coming, or after in the belief that He has come already; whether of the fold or not, but of every nation according to the complete promise. In which case, the differences are defined by service. But, just as service did not guaranty salvation among the chosen people, God being no respecter of persons, there too is no service or work that guaranties salvation.

As for the law, all have fallen short, except Christ. So, then, salvation is in Christ alone. Which to attain, no one can attain if Christ does not come into them. There are no works that qualify a person, but rather when and if one hears Christ knocking, that person answers...which is to believe.

 

[ScottA]

Didn't get an alert for this...
I have a question to clarify....
You mean to be initially saved
or do you mean to be saved all my life?

To be initially saved, the answer is
NO

But, you know, I'd like to REMAIN saved all my life...
and that requires obedience to God...so the answer then would be
YES

That is not biblical.

If one is [actually] saved "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand." Not even that person themselves. "No one."

...Thus, if you will go back and view all things according to this truth...it will set you free. This too is what is written.

 

[Grailhunter]

That is not biblical.

If one is [actually] saved "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand." Not even that person themselves. "No one."

...Thus, if you will go back and view all things according to this truth...it will set you free. This too is what is written.

GodsGrace is exactly right.

 

[ScottA]

GodsGrace is exactly right.

No, that makes you both wrong...and God correct.

 

[Grailhunter]

No, that makes you both wrong...and God correct.

Oh my! I didn't know who we were dealing with. Scott A has proclaimed himself God.
Well since I have your attention I need a parking space for my motorhome...can you help me with that?

 

[faithfulness]

Amen. We need to quieten down...not get too caught up in the noises of human activity....to listen within to the leading of the Spirit...ALL the time. It's a more meditative way of being I guess.

From that place God is able to speak to us...even in the hustle and bustle of very busy lives.

Jesus already worked out our walks for us...in advance. He listened to His Father for 30 years as a busy human being...BEFORE He even began His earthly ministry.

So we can ALWAYS be focused on Him...in ALL circumstances. This has been already prepared for us.

Yes, it is possible to always be focused, but what do you mean by "This has been already prepared for us"?
Is it "that place" within that you mean is already prepared?

 

[ScottA]

Oh my! I didn't know who we were dealing with. Scott A has proclaimed himself God.
Well since I have your attention I need a parking space for my motorhome...can you help me with that?

I quoted God. Now you babble. I guess we do know who we are dealing with.

 

[Grailhunter]

 

[Episkopos]

Yes, it is possible to always be focused, but what do you mean by "This has been already prepared for us"?
Is it "that place" within that you mean is already prepared?

I mean the works that have been prepared in advance that we should walk in them. If we walk In Christ or even are just led by the Spirit we are guided into the same kind of works that Jesus did. He modeled them first...and then allows us to partake of these same works so that we can be identified as His brethren before the great cloud of witnesses.

Without stepping into those works we could only be limited to a fleshly kind of witness. But instead we can do things as if Jesus did them...and He is ...because He is there with us.

There are these eternal moments where what we do glorifies God.

I'm reminded of Eric Liddel...the subject of the movie chariots of fire...and how he inspired faith in others because of his principles towards God. How he preached and touched people in the moment...took them to the door of heaven. He couldn't do that without God's help. :)

So we will see many of these moments brought out on that day...and we will be so happy to have been a part of the accomplishment of deeds that honour God on that day.

\o/\o/\o/

 

[atpollard]

James 2:20-21
20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?
(NKJ)

Okay, then how do you explain this?
He was accounted righteous before God several years earlier, BEFORE the birth of Isaac, and before he had done anything to "prove" his faith in God. Check it out in Genesis 15;4-6 below..

With this ...

• [Genesis 22:15-18 NASB] 15 Then the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, "By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."

We are saved by faith alone, but faith that saves is never alone.

Paul understood that:

• [Ephesians 2:8-10 NASB] 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. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

James understood that:

• [James 1:17-18 NASB] 17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. 18 In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.
  
• [James 2:14-17 NASB] 14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for [their] body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, [being] by itself.

 

[Enoch111]

We don't 'have' to do anything...

It would seem that you have gone overboard here. There are numerous Scriptures which plainly tell us what we ought to do. As Christians need need to keep a proper balance and follow what the Word says (as below):

What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

 

[justbyfaith]

Mk 16 :15,16 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Under the new covenant that was to be preached; when does salvation occur? Before or after baptism?

Notice that it doesn't say, he that believeth not and isn't baptized shall be damned. Lack of being baptized is not cited there as a reason for condemnation.

I’m gonna show it to you but you won’t see it. Your mind is made up.

Not necessarily. If you can show it to me clearly, I would change my point of view. Of course, there are a plethora of scriptures that teach us about salvation without baptism.

All you have to do is ask for the HS. He said that hearing, believing, repentance, baptism and remission of sins would be preached BEGINNING AT JERUSALEM. now show me ANY example of someone, under the new covenant that began on Pentecost, who “just asked” for the HS? If you are right there should be example after example.

I don't have to show an example; because Jesus promised it.

Luk 11:9, And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
Luk 11:10, For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Luk 11:11, If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
Luk 11:12, Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
Luk 11:13, If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

Hi Lady C,
Good deeds are useless for salvation.
God wants our heart.
For sanctification...they ARE necessary.

Good works are the result of being sanctified...they are not required as the means for being made holy. If I give $5, or even $5,000,000 to the poor, that doesn't sanctify me in the slightest. I might do such a thing because of God's sanctifying work within my heart. But the outward action doesn't change my inside. The only thing that changes me on the inside is my faith in Jesus Christ.

It's not right to say we obey because we want to.
We do want to...but we also have to.

See Romans 6:14, Romans 7:4, Romans 7:6, Galatians 2:19, Galatians 5:18, Ephesians 2:15-15, Colossians 2:14, Hebrews 7:18-19.

The law no longer condemns us from the outside (as written on tablets made of stone); but it governs us on the inside (as written on fleshy tables of human hearts).

We are not required to obey the Lord as Christians. We were required to obey Him before we became Christians, when we were under the law; and couldn't. Now we are not required to obey; but we do obey because His Spirit has come to live on the inside of us; shedding abroad His love in our heart (see Galatians 3:24-25).

We receive the Spirit by faith (Galatians 3:14); and the love of the Lord through the Spirit (Romans 5:5). This love is not in word or in tongue only, but in deed and in truth (1 John 3:17-18). It is also the fulfilling of the righteousness of the law within us (Romans 13:8-10, Galatians 5:14, Romans 8:4, 1 John 5:3, 2 John 1:6).

And the MORAL LAW has NOT been abolished.

The moral law no longer condemns us from the outside when we fail to be obedient; and we also fail less and less because it governs us from the inside through the love that has been shed abroad in our hearts.

And as to the gifts as the Bema Seat:
John 5:28-29
We will be judged by our deeds.

In that scripture it teaches that those who have done evil will be raised to the resurrection of damnation. All of us have done evil (1 John 1:10, Romans 3:23). So then, are all raised to the resurrection of damnation?

But, you know, I'd like to REMAIN saved all my life...
and that requires obedience to God...so the answer then would be
YES

Continued salvation is based on faith, not obedience/works. The righteousness of the Lord begins with faith, ends with faith, and is by faith all the way through...Romans 1:17, Colossians 2:6, Galatians 3:1-3.

Jesus said I NEVER KNEW YOU to those practicing LAWLESSNESS.
Those NOT PRACTICING THE LAW. Mathew 7:23

Do you wear tziztit, tallit, and tefilin? If you don't, then you are a transgressor of the law.

So...did He:
1. clean the house for you.
2. take the kids to school.
3. make food for your family.
4. be nice to the cashier at the store.
5. remember to pay all your bills.
6. ask your needy neighbor if there's something he could do for her.
7. tell the truth for you when someone asks you something
etc etc etc

You're very lucky if God does all this for you.
I have to do it myself...WITH HIS HELP.

He did indeed do all of this for me. Because as I do those things, His Spirit is dwelling on the inside of me, energizing me and doing those things through me. Jesus said, Apart from me you can do nothing.

 

[Lady Crosstalk]

Remember that knowing what to do and not doing it is also sin.
James 4:17

Yes--that is why the Rich Man (in Luke 16) is condemned and in the place of torment. Abraham comments that the Rich Man and his brothers have the Law of Moses and the prophets to have informed them. James addresses his book to Messianic Jews.

Sanctification works on our sin nature instead of taking sins away.
This does not take one moment but a lifetime. Our nature is cleansed
and is restored as mush as possible to the way God meant it to be.
Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for empowerment of the Holy Spirit. We also receive this empowerment through sanctification (of the heart, we can say).

Who does the work? Do we do the work on ourselves or does the Spirit of Christ do it from within us?

Hebrews 5:8-9
8Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.
9And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,

Again--The Book of Hebrews is written to Jews who were beginning to fall away from Christ because they were being persecuted--like the "second soil" in Jesus' parable of the "four soils".

Jesus became salvation to those who obey Him.
It's not right to say we obey because we want to.
We do want to...but we also have to.

You are making law where there is no law. "It was for freedom that Christ has set us free." (Galatians 5:1)

A Christian is not prideful of what he does.

Maybe a Christian is not, but a LOT of church-goers are. It is a problem which has plagued Christianity from the very beginning. (Think Ananias and Sapphira--we don't know that they were not real Christians.)

Jesus did nothing but speak of what we are TO DO.

He was speaking to Jews (He was "sent to the lost sheep of Israel"). He was showing them how they fell far short of actual obedience. When He told His disciples that it was difficult for rich men to make it into the Kingdom of God, they were startled and then asked who could possibly make it. They were used to the idea and had been taught that those who were wealthy were wealthy because of their righteousness. But, don't ignore Jesus' response that, with man, it is impossible, but that with God, all things are possible.

And as to the gifts as the Bema Seat:
John 5:28-29
We will be judged by our deeds.

Go back and read the context of that passage. Then go and do a study of the Five Crowns (not diadems but stephanos --a victor's wreath given out in a sporting competition) and see for what deeds they will be awarded. ;)