Ecclesiastes 12: Because God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.
Matt 12 : 3 And I say to you, that every careless word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your word you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned
In Matt 25 when he speaks of separating the sheep from the goats how is he determining the separation? Who are those blessed of the Father? Jesus says 35 For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you invited me in; 36 naked and you clothed me...etc 40..Truly I say to you to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me. " Then he says who goes into the fire: 42 "for I was hungry; and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; ...etc 45 Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me. 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
James states this too in 1:27 This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.".
James 2:13 For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment"
Matt 7: 21 Not every one who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord, ' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.
Matt 7:23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness. 24 Therefore every one who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them.....
(I will continue--Jesus says he is not judging us only by what we believe---our belief, if true, will have fruit and the fruit he describes in these passages. His judgment is true and if we don't have fruit, we need to question our salvation. We can not possibly know God and not love the brethren.
When we come to know God, who is love, it transforms us and we will love. If we don't love, I John says, then we don't know God. If we don't love our brethren who we see how can we say we love God whom we do not see? says John. John says he who practices sin is of the devil I Jn 3:8 people with porn addiction , for instance, would need to examine if they really are in the faith. Knowing God is trans-formative and if we are practicing lawlessness I John says we can not know that we are saved. I John gives the test we can run by our lives--these test he says he has given us that we may know that you have eternal life---the whole letter is written to show what true belief in the son of God is---some examples he gives 1:6 if we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth 7 but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, His Son cleanses us from all sin, 8 if we say that we have no sin , we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us; 9 if we confess our sins , he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sis and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
2:4 The one who says, I have come to know Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. BY THIS we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.:
2:4 The one who says, I have come to know Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. BY THIS we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.:
- He gives many more things , so yes if these things are true of us then we can be assured that we have a real belief in Christ and that we truly know God. But if these things are not true of us then we can not be assured that we have a saving belief in God. This is why he tells us to examine ourselves.
.... we agree there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ and if you read on in the passage you quoted in Romans it says 8:4 in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so; 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God, 9However you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit if indeed the the Spirit of God dwells in you.......13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live, 14 for all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God......17 and if children, heirs, also , heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ, IF indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may be glorified with Him."
,.So I continue--There is no condemnation if we are in the Spirit he says and if we are not living according to the flesh, but are putting to death the deeds of the body --and if we suffer with him. Purgatory is not a place of condemnation but a place of purification for sin that has not been confessed to God. However certain sins God says that if we are practicing them then we are not His. Gal 5:19 now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery , enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envyings, drunkenness, carousings, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
So there it is again--if we are living fleshly lives and not walking in the Spirit--if those attributes he is describing are pervasive in our lives then he says we shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
So in all of these passages (and I have only touched on a few) we see that how one lives is very important. Because we cannot be left unchanged if we truly know the holy, loving, all powerful God who has given us His Son. Yes , when we go to judgment Jesus says He judges us by these deeds and this is because these deeds are demonstrations and evidence that we have not just called him Lord and then lived our lives in the flesh instead of the Spirit. In Revelation he tells the Ephesian church that they need to repent because they left their first love. To Smyrna he says to be faithful UNTIL death and he will give them the crown of life (perseverance is essential), to Thyatira he asks that they repent of deeds or acts of immorality and in Sardis he says I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God...he tells them to repent and says those who have not soiled their garments will walk with Me in white; for they are worthy.
I will end here--but if one says that deeds don't matter means you do not believe Jesus, Paul, James, John etc---
One has to see from the Bible that when we really know God it is not just an intellectual assent, but a transformation that results in us walking in the Spirit, doing the deeds he commands, and having love. Without these things our faith is not a saving faith...not a true faith and we are fooling ourselves into thinking we know and love our Savior .
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