XPost: alt.christnet.christnews, alt.bible   
   From: usenet@christrose.news   
      
         “Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works   
          of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you   
          believe in him whom he has sent.”” (John 6:28–29, ESV)   
      
         ““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.’” (Matthew 7:21–23, ESV)   
      
         “What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not   
          trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God.   
          And it was by faith that this took place. But the people of   
          Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the   
          law, never succeeded. Why not? Because they were trying to get   
          right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him.   
          They stumbled over the great rock in their path. God warned them   
          of this in the Scriptures when he said, “I am placing a stone in   
          Jerusalem that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them   
          fall. But anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.””   
          (Romans 9:30–33, NLT)   
      
   Jesus does not redefine salvation in Matthew 7. He exposes false   
   confidence. The condemned appeal to what they did. They never appeal to   
   Christ. Their works stand in the place of faith. That is why He says, “I   
   never knew you” (Matthew 7:23, ESV). The problem is not too much faith   
   in Christ. The problem is no faith in Christ at all.   
      
   Lawlessness does not mean “failure to meet organizational requirements.”   
   It means rejection of God’s righteousness. Paul defines it clearly.   
   Israel pursued righteousness, but did not attain it because they sought   
   it by works, not by faith (Romans 9:31–32, ESV). To reject God’s   
   righteousness revealed in Christ and establish one’s own is lawlessness   
   (Romans 10:3–4, ESV).   
      
   You quote Matthew 24:13 as if endurance creates salvation. Jesus speaks   
   there about perseverance through tribulation, not the basis of   
   justification. Scripture consistently teaches that endurance proves   
   faith; it does not produce it. “The one who endures” endures because he   
   already belongs to Christ. “They went out from us, but they were not of   
   us” (1 John 2:19, ESV).   
      
   You misuse Matthew 24:14. Jesus does not say the preaching of a kingdom   
   program saves anyone. He says it precedes the end. The same Jesus   
   explains the Father’s will plainly: “This is the will of my Father, that   
   everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal   
   life” (John 6:40, ESV). Scripture does not contradict itself.   
      
   Luke 4:43 does not help your case. Jesus preached the kingdom by   
   preaching Himself as the King. He did not preach a merit system. He   
   preached repentance and faith. “Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark   
   1:15, ESV). The gospel He later defines as His death and resurrection   
   (Luke 24:46–47, ESV).   
      
   You keep citing 1 Corinthians 9:27 as fear of losing salvation. Paul   
   says no such thing. He fears disqualification from reward and   
   usefulness, not loss of justification. He already states plainly that   
   believers stand secure in Christ. “There is therefore now no   
   condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1, ESV).   
   Scripture does not teach Paul feared becoming unsaved.   
      
   You reject assurance, but Scripture affirms it. “Whoever hears my word   
   and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into   
   judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24, ESV). That is   
   present possession, not probation.   
      
   Endurance is the evidence of saving faith, not a condition men must meet   
   prior to being saved. Works follow salvation, not precede it. “We are   
   his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Ephesians   
   2:10, ESV). Works flow from being known by Christ. They do not cause Him   
   to know us.   
      
   Matthew 7 condemns trusting works.   
   John 6 defines the Father’s will.   
   Paul explains justification.   
   All Scripture agrees.   
      
   The kingdom does not come through preaching about endurance.   
   It comes through the King who endured the cross for sinners (Hebrews   
   12:2, ESV).   
      
   Christ died for our sins.   
   Christ was buried.   
   Christ was raised.   
   That message saves (1 Corinthians 15:1–4, ESV).   
      
   Anything added to that replaces faith with lawlessness (Galatians 1:8-9).   
      
         “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to   
          you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you   
          are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to   
          you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of   
          first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our   
          sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that   
          he was raised on the third day in accordance with the   
          Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.”   
          (1 Corinthians 15:1–5, ESV)   
      
         “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were   
          through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” (Galatians   
          2:21, ESV)   
      
         “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a   
          gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be   
          accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone   
          is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received,   
          let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:8–9, ESV)   
      
   "Jehovah's Witnesses" do NOT proclaim the gospel Paul and the disciples   
   preached (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). They preach "another" gospel, that is   
   accursed and that leads men to eternal damnation (Galatians 1:8-9).   
      
   You try to confuse the fruit and EVIDENCE of salvation (good works,   
   endurance), with a merit-based condition that depends on what man does.   
   This is a SATANIC lie and FALSE GOSPEL. No unregenerate person has the   
   Holy Spirit to enable him to become spiritually alive or obedient to God   
   (Ephesians 2:1ff.).   
      
   --   
   Have you heard the good news Christ died for our sins (†), and God   
   raised Him from the dead?   
      
   That Christ died for our sins shows we're sinners who deserve the death   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)