Believing by faith alone will not get you saved

Quote: Is there only one covenant, and not two? We were informed that there is only ONE covenant, and that we are decieved if we think there are TWO covenants.

It is written, that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondmaid, and one by the freewoman, Howbeit, the one by the bondmaid is born after the flesh; but the son by the freewoman is born through promise. Which things contain an allegory: for these women are two covenants. GAL 4:22-24.

THERE are two covenants, one called the Old, the other the New. God speaks of this very distinctly in Jeremiah, where He says "The days come, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, not after the covenant I made with their fathers"

This is quoted also in Hebrews, with the addition "In that He saith a new covenant, He hath made the first old." Our Lord spoke Himself of the New Covenant in His blood. In His dealings with His people, in His working out His great redemption, it has pleased God that there should be two covenants.

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Quote: Are we saved by faith alone? Or are we saved by a mixture of faith and our works?

Quote: We were also told we are deceived if we think that we do not have to live by the Levitical Law... and by faith in Christ.

In keeping with the theme of covenants

The Old Covenant we should keep in mind has two aspects under which we have seen in Scripture The combination of the two aspects are clear in Galatians. Paul speaks of all who are of the works of the law as under the curse Gal 3:10 And then almost immediately after he speaks of the law as being our benefactor, a schoolmaster unto Christ, into whose charge, as to a tutor or governor, we had been given, till the time appointed of the Father.

The lessons God would teach us through the Old Covenant.

1) Brings men to a sense of their utter sinfulness.
2) The need of a savior as they are hopeless impotent to deliver themselves.

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Jer 31: 33-34

A summary of the New Covenant. The last-named blessing, the pardon of sin, is the first in order, the root of all. The second, having God as our God, and the third, the Divine teaching and the law in the heart.

Through the whole of the Old Covenant there was always one trouble: man's heart was not right with God. In the New Covenant the evil is to be remedied. Its central promise is a heart delighting in God's law and capable of knowing and holding fellowship with Him.

The central demand of the Old Covenant, Obey My voice, and I will be your God, has now been met. With the law written in the heart, He can be our God, and we shall be His people. Perfect harmony with God's will, holiness in heart and life, is the only thing that can satisfy God's heart. And it is this the New Covenant gives in Divine power, "I will give them an heart to know Me; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people; for they shall turn to me with their whole heart."

It is on the state of the heart, it is on the new heart given by God by faith, that the unmerited favor of New Covenant life hinges.

Pauls asks

Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or the hearing of faith?"

The Galatians had indeed been born into the New Covenant; they had received the Holy Spirit. But they had been led away by Jewish teachers, and, though they had been justified by faith, they were seeking to be sanctified by works; they were looking for the maintenance and the growth of their Christian life to the observance of the law.

They had not understood that, equally with the beginning, the progress of the Divine life is by faith alone, day by day receiving its strength from Christ alone.

Almost every believer makes the same mistake as the Galatian Christians. Very few learn at conversion that it is only through faith that we stand, and walk, and live.

At conversion we have no conception of the meaning of Paul's teaching about being dead to the law, freed from the law about the freedom with which Christ makes us free. "As many as are led by the Spirit are not under the law."

The mistake is to regard the law as a Divine ordinance for our direction and considering ourselves prepared and fitted by conversion to take up the law as a natural duty.

Not knowing that, in the New Covenant, the law written in the heart needs an unceasing faith in a Divine power, to enable us by a Divine power to keep it.

Failing to understand that it is not to the law, but to a Living Person, that we are now bound, and that our obedience and holiness are only possible by the unceasing faith in His power ever working in us.

I believe the message of Hebrews 7:7-14 speaks to us today just as it did to the Jews it was sent to originally.

Hebrews 7:7-14: NASB

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second.

8 For finding fault with them, He says,
“BEHOLD, DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD,
WHEN I WILL EFFECT A NEW COVENANT
WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH;

9 NOT LIKE THE COVENANT WHICH I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS
ON THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND
TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT;
FOR THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT,
AND I DID NOT CARE FOR THEM, SAYS THE LORD.

10 “FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL
AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD:
I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MINDS,
AND I WILL WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS.
AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD,
AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.

11 “AND THEY SHALL NOT TEACH EVERYONE HIS FELLOW CITIZEN,
AND EVERYONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, ‘KNOW THE LORD,’
FOR ALL WILL KNOW ME,
FROM THE LEAST TO THE GREATEST OF THEM.

12 “FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES,
AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE.”

13 When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.

The OT serves us well in helping us understand the person and nature of God - His holiness, how he deals with sin and its remedy. Without this information Jesus' death and resurrection would be meaningless.

My understanding...

Seems to me some folks love to complicate simple doctrine...

Hi Krispy,

Love the topic!

Here's my view:

The world has a saying "if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, then it's a duck"

I agree 100% that we are saved by faith alone (as Paul explained to the Ephesians) and now by works that any man should boast.

A truly born again person whose cup is cleansed on the inside will do works, not out of obligation, but from a love of Jesus who gave everything for us. This person's motivation is not to 'be saved' but a work of appreciation for all that has been given to him in grace. It's not the works that saved him but the original work of the Spirit in his heart.

There are many in the organization known as the church (the corporation) that are doing works that aren't saved. Jesus warned us about this in the parable of the farmer who went out and sowed seed, the seed came up and there were weeds in the midst of it. The servants asked Him is they should pull the weeds and He told them "no" because it would damage the good plants, He would separate them at the harvest.

Anyway, that's my feeble attempt to answer your question, thanks for asking and I hope this makes a little bit of sense. :-) Love ya brother!!

The short answer is that we are saved by faith. But the proof that we are saved (synonyms for this: abide in Him, we are in Christ, we know Him, etc.) is that we walk as Jesus walked.

1 John 2:3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

(By commandment, it is not understood to be the entire law as had been developed in Judaism at the time. It is the law of the Spirit.)

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

(So we must be walking according to the Spirit if we are truly in Christ Jesus.)

Romans 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

(In other words, if you live by the flesh, you are not in Christ, so you will not inherit eternal life and will die. Those who live by the Spirit, and are therefore sons of God, will inherit eternal life and live.)

Heb 8:10 (quoting Jer 31:33): For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

(The new covenant that we have in Christ, being more glorious than the first covenant under the law (2 Cor 3:7-11) is a covenant of the Spirit (2 Cor 3:6) and is manifested in us through God's laws being written directly on our minds and hearts, so that we are moved to obey Him by our intellect and our emotions).

In summary, though salvation is NOT by works, but by repentance and faith, your faith is shown through living your life in the Spirit and not in the flesh.

The issue really is, when we say that we receive salvation by believing in Christ, what does it mean to believe? This short video by Francis Chan is a good illustration of that concept.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EedUll7SGr0

i have to say i fully agree with you last 2 posts krispy

oh and most of your other posts

that is how one uses the law lawfully as paul says to timothy i think was timothey

it can be used to bring a sinner to christ

for it is said to be not made for a righeous

but for those contrary to the gosple of christ

a person regenarted by the spirit of god is not contrary to the gopsle therfor he is not under the law

and the law is not needed regarding him to bring him under conviction and to show him is rebelion

But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;

009:

Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,

010:

For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

011:

According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

gal 3.15
Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.

016:

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

017:

And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.

018:

For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

019:

Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

020:

Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.

021:

Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.

022:

But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

023:

But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.

024:

Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

025:

But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

026:

For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus

010:

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

011:

But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

012:

And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.

013:

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

014:

That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

I hope you don't mind, but rather than argue the point (which is just a tired exercise these days...) I will post some thoughts from an article, "Resting...True Faith" by Malcolm Smith

Hey Mahoney,

I want to ask, where did you get this material from Malcolm Smith, I want to check it out. It just reminds me of God's grace.

In Christ,

- Michael Liao

What's new in the new covenant? First of course the new high priest that is now Jesus himself:

Hebrews 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

What happened to God's laws?

Hebrews 10:16  This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

These laws are now not in front of their eyes to read and trying to obey anymore, they are written into their hearts and in their minds.

This type of writing reminds me a little bit of hardcoding software instructions into a computer. With the difference that this "computer" has his own free will of whether he will run my program or not. However it's written in the heart (PC = RAM) and in the mind (PC = ROM).

Now when I want to check on this computer if I will include it in my fleet that will be used to work on projects and so ask this computer whether my laws (the instructions of the programmer) are written unto that PC or if they have ceased to exisit, and the PC responds by exercising his free will with "no such instructions have been written" - what would you as the project leader do with that PC?

Obviously it's a relationship, or a love issue. If he loves me he will run my instructions. If he doesn't love me we will not have a mutual lasting relationship. Now the lack of our relationship will tempt him to run other programs even contrary to my liking. And that ends his ability to even maintain minimum level of relationship by denying my grace to give him options in the first place. My software creator mind is thinking there along Paul's mind when he says:

Hebrews 10:29  Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace

That's where the analogy ends because the Son of God paid a much higher price to establish our possible relationship with the sheding of his blood.

We are 100% saved by faith alone. There is NOTHING we can do to earn God's love or to get us 'more' saved than we already are. The amount of time we spend in church will do nothing for our salvation, the amount of tithes we pay, the amount of good works we do, nothing. We are saved by faith alone.

Now, the rewards we will or will not receive are based on something entirely different!! And that is for another 'thread' I guess!

God bless you Krispy and I wouldn't worry about what a noob says!!!

Lisa

Monnkz,

ANSWER THESE FIVE POINTS.

1. The New Testament teaches that Old Covenant rituals are not binding on New Covenant Christians.

We Christians affirm that Old Covenant rituals and ceremonies have nothing to do with New Covenant salvation. Christians, whether Jew or Gentile, now have peace with God simply through our faith in Jesus Christ, Who,

Eph 2:14 ...hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

Eph 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man...

The apostle teaches that the Old Covenant-required rituals and ceremonies that had so long separated Jew from Gentile have now been abolished by God. You say that they are binding on Christians and you imply that we Christians are lost because we take the apostle's teachings at face-value. By doing so, you have re-built a wall of separation between us, and this is an ABOMINATION to God.

We Christians firmly believe the inspired apostles when they teach that in no sense whatsoever are Old Covenant rituals necessary to observe in order to be saved. Rather, both Jews and Gentiles alike are saved by faith in Christ alone.

2. The N.T. teaches that Christ Himself is the fulfillment of the ritual and ceremonial observances of the Old Covenant.

Please consider:

Col 2:10 And ye are COMPLETE in HIM, which is the head of all principality and power:

Col 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

Col 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

Col 2:15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

Col 2:16 LET NO MAN therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of AN HOLYDAY, or of the new moon, or of the SABBATH days:

Col 2:17 Which are a SHADOW of things to come; but the BODY is of Christ.

The reasoning of the apostle in this place is that:

These ritual and ceremonial observances were merely symbolic and transitory, like a shadow being cast on a wall by a man's approaching body.

They merely pointed to various aspects of Christ's salvation ministry, (which at the time was yet to come), but which He has now completely won for us.

Since Christ has indeed already come and has succeeded spectacularly in His mission to "purchase us with His own blood", we naturally set aside the UNNECESSARY rituals that merely pointed to that, and fully embrace Him instead, just as we would naturally set aside our attention from a man's shadow, once the man himself comes into our view...

By faith alone we NOW have Christ and by faith alone we are NOW made COMPLETE in Him. Rituals and ceremonies that once pointed to him have been made obsolete. The writer of Hebrews says plainly that these ritual observances had come to end. They,

Heb 9:10 ...stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

Thank God! We have now entered into a new and glorious time where God has not only freed us from these carnal ordinances but has also,

Col 1:13 ...delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

And this,

Rom 14:17 ... kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

The New Testament writings clearly affirm that there is a change in God's requirements concerning rituals and ceremonial observances, but if you will not hear the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, perhaps you will you hear the prophets of the LORD instead:

3. The O.T. teaches that God Himself would be the One to alter His Own Word.

When Israel ignored the necessity of true heart-holiness, God Himself became sick of their ceremonies and their keeping of sabbaths:

Isa 1:13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and SABBATHS, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.

Isa 1:14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul HATETH: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.

God found this fault to be so consistent with them as to be detestable. He later spoke through the prophet Jeremiah:

Jer 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a NEW COVENANT with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

Jer 31:32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:

Jer 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put MY LAW in their inward parts, and write it in their HEARTS; and will be their God, and THEY shall be my people.

It may be asserted that God's "ethical" requirements can never be changed; that Scripture in the New Testament can never contradict Scripture in the Old Testament. Verses may be quoted to prove that men cannot change God's requirements, and this is good and right and true, but who are you to say that HE Himself CANNOT change His Own requirements? Didn't you notice that "YAH" says in the text: "I" will make a CHANGE regarding my covenant with the House of Israel?

4. Consider further:

The Old Covenant (along with it's ritual and ceremonial observances), has been REPLACED by the New Covenant, and it wasn't any mere man that did this, but GOD Himself :

Heb 10:9 ...HE TAKETH AWAY THE FIRST [COVENANT], that he may establish the second.

How can you have set yourself up to be a "teacher in Israel" when you don't even know "YAH's" mind? How can you be a true "watchman over Israel" when you are so totally ignorant of His purposes?

God Himself has changed the nature of our covenant with Him. He has changed the requirements and He has revealed a truly "new and living way." And truly, "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is LIBERTY!" Through Christ alone we have,

Heb 10:19 ... boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,

Heb 10:20 By a NEW and LIVING WAY, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

Heb 10:21 And having an high priest over the house of God;

Heb 10:22 Let us draw near with a TRUE HEART in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

The New Covenant is the "NEW WAY", but our knowledge of it is not new. It had already been heralded by the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and its fulfillment has been fully explained to us by the apostles. Truly we are,

Eph 2:20 ... built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets!

Consequently, we Christians know with the fullest assurance that:

5. The Bible says that the observing or not observing of individual holy days is not a “salvation issue”:

We Christians can take the simple teachings of the apostles at face-value:

Rom 14:4 Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.

Rom 14:5 One man esteemeth ONE DAY above another: another esteemeth EVERY DAY alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

Rom 14:6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it.

Col 2:16 LET NO MAN THEREFORE JUDGE YOU.

Even so, LORD JESUS. Amen.

May God bless the TRUE "Israel of God."
Doug.

Actually you are not correct on this one Monnkz, because righteousness comes by faith only. The obedience to His commands are only the result of that, not the cause. It is of course right to say, where the works of obedience are missing, there is no true faith. Saving faith is never alone, as James correctly says.

In the same way we establish the law - by faith. This of course does not negate God's law, we can only know by faith that His laws are written on our heart. When this faith is active we of course have his commands in our minds, not come up with sayings that grace replaced them, that would be wrong understanding. Or indeed we are not born again yet, then truly nothing is written on our heart, while we think we know what grace and love means, but actually don't.

But this took me a long time to understand: Romans 3:31  Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

How do we establish the law? Wesley got that one sorted out: Law Established through Faith https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=article&aid=6109

It's an important read because in today's time many people are lawless while they call themselves believers. This is deception, and the thoughest one I've ever seen.

The problem with people that think to know what grace is and call everyone legalistic and judasizer that does not share their surface understanding of the matter is they do not understand the endtimes deception that is not legalism, but lawlessness. I had to read that book by David Servant 3 times before it clicked in my mind what he meant with this quote:

"The reformers were cautious to proclaim, “It is faith, alone, which saves; but the faith that saves is not alone.Today, hundreds of years later, what the reformers feared has come upon us. Unlike the legalists of Martin Luther’s day, today’s church-goers don’t need to be told that their dead works can’t save them. Rather, they need to be told that that their dead faith can’t save them. "

hi, what other filthy rags can you boast in.if you boast boast only in Jesus for there is none good ,no not one,save He who died for us.surely not you or i.jimp

Brethren,

Where are all the godly threads, the threads that transmit life, the threads that instruct in righteousness and lead a believer to overcome secret sin? Where are the threads that bespeak of love - true, divine love, the pure fruit of God - and foster a deeper awareness of absolute transformity to Jesus Christ in the soul of a believer?

Give me one of those threads for a million of these garbage topics. The spirit behind them all reeks of pride, contention, strivings about the law, and does nothing but imbitter and alienate. Plethoras of scripture are strewn about, the deadness of the letter, which, in the end, beget nothing but more death. When will the death cease? How many more lifeless, fruitless, devotionless wranglings must consume the space on this forum?

It saddens me to see the same people, year after year, indulging, instigating, relishing, contributing to not life, but death by the letter here on SermonIndex. The same scriptures they wield to defend truth, only return to inflict damage upon themselves, for their own hearts are not right with God.

I am closing down this thread, and I am very sad with all of this. I am sad that I cannot come here to find fruit. I am heartbroken that I continually find here barreness, strife, dead leaves, dead letters, spiritual pride, and secret character ambition. Clouds without rain for those who are promised a drink. All these empty, spiritless exchanges are as seed sown to the flesh, and all that sew to the flesh shall one day of the flesh reap corruption. The lack of the peace of God in the soul, and the many strongholds these exchanges bring into the hearts of those who participate and glory in them is the judgment of God, the reward of the crop.

I am not angry; I am sad. Please do not start any of these topics again.

Brother Paul