MMD
This is what you say:
In Matthew 12:37, "For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." This is because our words (just like our works) reveal the state of our hearts. Words will appear to be evidences for, or against a man's being in a state of grace and righteousness.
I sure hope Dcon is reading along...
Amen to that sis FranC and if i may add...
Christians shouldn’t be just mere talkers and hearers.
1 Corinthians 4:19-20 But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
Romans 2:12-14 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law,
WHEN GOD COMMANDED US TO LOVE, HE DID NOT WANT US TO JUST SAY IT BUT FOR US TO DO IT.
1 John 4:8,16,21 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
1 John 5:2-3 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: TO OBEY HIS COMMANDS. And his commands are not burdensome,
IS LOVE JUST A MERE WORD? AS IT WAS SAID “GOD IS LOVE” AND “THE WORD IS GOD”(1john 4:8&16)
BOTH LOVE AND THE WORD ARE LIVING AND WORKING.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Hebrews 4:12,14 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
IF THE LOVE AND THE WORD OF GOD ABIDES IN US, CAN’T IT SAVE US?
BOTH LOVE AND THE WORD IS THE POWER THAT MOVES AND LEADS US TO DO HIS WORK(phil 2:13, rom 8:28)
WITHOUT SUBMISSION AND THE FEAR & REVERENCE FOR THE LORD, WE HAMPER HIS WORK, GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT AND IF WE ARE OVERCOME BY OUR SINFUL NATURE, WE CAN LOSE OUR SALVATION AND NEVER BE BROUGHT BACK TO REPENTANCE AGAIN.(2 pet 2:20-22, heb 6:4-12)
NOW, IF WE REALLY ARE IN CHRIST AND A NEW CREATION, HOW CAN’T OUR WORKS SAVE US AND OTHER PEOPLE? DO WE DENY THE POWER OF GOD AND HIS SPIRIT IN US(the body of Christ)TO SAVE?
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
1 Timothy 4:15-16 Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
Matthew 9:37-38 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
JUST AS JESUS DOES WHATEVER HE SEES HIS FATHER IS DOING AND BECAUSE GOD IS THE HEAD OF JESUS, AND JESUS IS THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH(HIS BODY)(1cor 11:3, col 1:18) AND OF WHICH HE IS THE SAVIOR(eph 5:23), CHRISTIANS ARE COMMANDED TO DO THE WORKS OF GOD EVEN HIS WORKS OF SALVATION FOR IT IS GOD OUR ONLY SAVIOR WHO IS WORKING IN AND THRU US AS INSTRUMENTS OF HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS(rom 6:13) IN TRUTH AND IN LOVE.
John 9:4 As long as it is day, WE MUST DO THE WORK OF HIM who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.
John 12:47-48 “As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.
John 14:10-12 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, LIVING IN ME, who is DOING HIS WORK. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or AT LEAST BELIEVE ON THE EVIDENCE OF THE MIRACLES( a work) themselves. I tell you the truth, ANYONE WHO HAS FAITH IN ME WILL DO WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
SALVATION IS THE WORK OF A SAVIOR AND WE ARE GOD’S FELLOW WORKERS.