Wednesday, May 11, 2016

BORN AGAIN BELIEVERS WANT TO OBEY JESUS!

I have written many times about the Lordship of Christ.  I have stated that I believe that in order to become a born again believer, one must recognize Jesus for both Who He is, and What He is:  What He is, is The one and only Savior (Jn. 14:6); Who He is, is Lord (115 verses)!  As a result, I receive many comments, most of which are lecturing me on my view requiring works for salvation.  They say that acknowledging Jesus as Lord, requires one to commit to obey His will, and that committal indicates works must follow.  I agree!  But notice what the statement says:  works must follow!  They are not the means of salvation, but are evidence that salvation has taken place!  Here are a few verses which teach this:

*   Acts 4:33 - "And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the LORD Jesus: and great grace was upon them all."
*   Romans 10:9-10, 13 - "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the LORD Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be saved."
*   Revelation 22:21 - "The grace of our LORD Jesus Christ be with you all.  Amen."

My critics like to point out that, according to them, there are two Gospels:  the Gospel of the kingdom, which has to do with Israel experiencing Christ's Millennial Kingdom; and the Gospel of Christ which "is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."  And yet, the Apostle Paul clearly stated that there is but one Gospel.  He wrote:

"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:  which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ.  But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:6-9).

It has occurred to me that perhaps they "need to believe" there are two Gospels, because by the use of the word "kingdom," Jesus is declared to be the KING!  And as such, believers need to obey Him!  Jesus is called "LORD Jesus" 115 times!  In addition, tells us that Jesus is God:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and THE WORD WAS GOD.  And the WORD was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld HIS GLORY, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (Jn. 1:1, 14)!

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