Today a few words about one of the greatest distortions in the modern church saying, salvation is by faith and grace alone apart from works means we aren’t supposed to have or seek to do works. Here it is in other words of truth, faith is the statement of intentions based on what is believed, and what proves faith is the result that comes as we work out our faith. The LORD tells us over and over that a man will be judged based upon his works.
Matthew 25 tells of the judgment based on works and of those that have used the talents given them and filled their lamps with the oil of His wisdom. To them the LORD says, “Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
Here is the rest of the story:
He says to them, What did you do with what I have endowed you with? Did you pour your oil onto the sick anointing them with My wisdom? Did you impart what I have given you to release those imprisoned by the corrupted teaching of an unjust and evil world? Did you clothe them with My ways of justice, and peace to all men of good will (righteousness)?
And these will say, “No LORD, because my preachers told me all I had to do is have faith and I would receive earthly riches just as they had.”
And He asks, what about your works?
The deceived answer, “We voted for men who took from other men to give to us and others who also refused to make any effort to pursue those things by working.”
And He says, what about clothing the poor in spirit, and visiting those imprisoned in darkness, and healing disease by my ways of peace?
And these evil men will say, “We healed them by voting for those who allowed them to kill their children, and forced them to buy insurance that would pay for it. We set them free by voting for those who removed Your standard of morality and allowing them to commit every evil act, and we condemned those who didn’t agree with us. We cloth them and fed them by voting for those who made laws taking from the working people what they earned and giving it to us and others who refused to work.”
And He says to them, Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.
And they say again to him, “But our preachers told us it was OK and we wouldn’t be judged for our works.”
And the LORD says to them, they aren’t My preachers. My preachers make sure it is perfectly understood, no man is saved by his own good works. Good works merely elevate those doing them to be given more to work with. Even the evil ones have faith, so a man is not saved by faith alone. All men have been taught and founded on a teaching so it isn’t by the grace only. It is by faith in the one the Father sends with His teaching, and this is the grace of God that saves us. Acts upon these are what produce works validating the truth of what we believe and that we are doing God’s will.
John 6
27 Labor not for the meat which perishes, but for that meat which endures unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him has God the Father sealed.
28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent.
30 They said therefore unto him, What sign show you then, that we may see, and believe you? what dost you work?
31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
32 Then Jesus said unto them, Truly, Truly, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and gives life unto the world.
34 Then said they unto him, LORD, evermore give us this bread.
35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
36 But I said unto you, That you also have seen me, and believe not.
37 All that the Father gives me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
39 And this is the Father’s will which has sent me, that of all which he has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which sees the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
In the past we have briefly discussed the Septuagint, which is the original Greek translation and compilation of the Hebrew Scriptures, and includes what is called the Apocrypha. Apocrypha means things kept apart in secret. They are also books excluded from the Protestant Bible. They remain in the Catholic Bible, but their reliance on traditions of their denomination over the Scripture, along with the exclusion from most Bibles, has resulted in the books being unknown to most people.
I am hereafter posting portions of the book of Wisdom from the Septuagint. The posting will have more meaning for those who study along, as they will see and understand it in the context of our discussion.
Wisdom 1
1 Love righteousness, you that be judges of the earth: think of the LORD with a good (heart,) and in simplicity of heart seek him. 2 For he will be found of them that tempt him not; and shows himself unto such as do not distrust him. 3 For froward [twisted and perverse] thoughts separate from God: and his power, when it is tried, reproves the unwise.
4 For into a malicious soul wisdom shall not enter; nor dwell in the body that is subject unto sin. 5 For the holy spirit of discipline will flee deceit, and remove from thoughts that are without understanding, and will not abide when unrighteousness cometh in.
6 For wisdom is a loving spirit; and will not acquit a blasphemer [slanderer] of his words: for God is witness of his reins [perception], and a true beholder of his heart [reasoning], and a hearer of his tongue [the true meaning of his words]. 7 For the Spirit of the LORD fills the world: and that which contains all things has knowledge of the voice.
8 Therefore he that speaks unrighteous things cannot be hid: neither shall vengeance, when it punishes, pass by him. 9 For inquisition [investigations] shall be made into the counsels of the ungodly: and the sound of his words shall come unto the LORD for the manifestation of his wicked deeds. 10 For the ear of jealousy hears all things: and the noise of murmurings is not hid.
11 Therefore beware of murmuring, which is unprofitable; and refrain your tongue from backbiting: for there is no word so secret, that shall go for naught: and the mouth that belies [is false] slays [deadens] the soul.
12 Seek not death in the error of your life: and pull not upon yourselves destruction with the works of your hands. 13 For God made not death: neither has he pleasure in the destruction of the living. 14 For he created all things, that they might have their being: and the generations of the world were healthful; and there is no poison of destruction in them, nor the kingdom of death upon the earth: 15 (For righteousness is immortal:) 16 But ungodly men with their works and words called it to them: for when they thought to have it their friend, they consumed to naught, and made a covenant with it, because they are worthy to take part with it.
Wisdom 2
1 For the ungodly said, reasoning with themselves, but not aright, Our life is short and tedious [long, dull and boring], and in the death of a man there is no remedy: neither was there any man known to have returned from the grave. 2 For we are born at all adventure [hazard]: and we shall be hereafter as though we had never been: for the breath in our nostrils is as smoke, and a little spark in the moving of our heart: 3 Which being extinguished, our body shall be turned into ashes, and our spirit shall vanish as the soft air, 4 And our name shall be forgotten in time, and no man shall have our works in remembrance, and our life shall pass away as the trace of a cloud, and shall be dispersed as a mist, that is driven away with the beams of the sun, and overcome with the heat thereof.
5 For our time is a very shadow that passes away; and after our end there is no returning: for it is fast sealed, so that no man cometh again.
6 Come on therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are present: and let us speedily use the creatures like as in youth. 7 Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments: and let no flower of the spring pass by us: 8 Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds, before they be withered: 9 Let none of us go without his part of our voluptuousness [the fullness of excess]: let us leave tokens of our joyfulness in every place: for this is our portion, and our lot is this.
10 Let us oppress the poor righteous man, let us not spare the widow, nor reverence the ancient gray hairs of the aged.
11 Let our strength be the law of justice: for that which is feeble is found to be nothing worth.
12 Therefore let us lie in wait for the righteous; because he is not for our turn, and he is clean contrary to our doings: he upbraids us with our offending the law, and objects to our infamy the transgressing of our education. 13 He professes to have the knowledge of God: and he calls himself the child of the LORD. 14 He was made to reprove our thoughts. 15 He is grievous unto us even to behold: for his life is not like other men’s, his ways are of another fashion. 16 We are esteemed of him as counterfeits: he abstains from our ways as from filthiness: he pronounces the end of the just to be blessed, and makes his boast that God is his Father.
17 Let us see if his words be true: and let us prove what shall happen in the end of him. 18 For if the just man be the Son of God, he will help him, and deliver him from the hand of his enemies. 19 Let us examine him with despitefulness and torture, that we may know his meekness, and prove his patience. 20 Let us condemn him with a shameful death: for by his own saying he shall be respected.
21 Such things they did imagine, and were deceived: for their own wickedness has blinded them. 22 As for the mysteries of God, they knew them not: neither hoped they for the wages of righteousness, nor discerned a reward for blameless souls.
23 For God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity. 24 Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it.
Wisdom 3
1 But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. 2 In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery, 3 And their going from us to be utter destruction: but they are in peace. 4 For though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality.
5 And having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy for himself. 6 As gold in the furnace has he tried them, and received them as a burnt offering.
7 And in the time of their visitation they shall shine, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble. 8 They shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people, and their LORD shall reign for ever. 9 They that put their trust in him shall understand the truth: and such as be faithful in love shall abide with him: for grace and mercy is to his saints, and he has care for his elect. 10 But the ungodly shall be punished according to their own imaginations, which have neglected the righteous, and forsaken the LORD.
11 For whoso despise wisdom and nurture, he is miserable, and their hope is vain, their labors unfruitful, and their works unprofitable: 12 Their wives are foolish, and their children wicked:
13 Their offspring is cursed. Wherefore blessed is the barren that is undefiled, which has not known the sinful bed: she shall have fruit in the visitation of souls.
14 And blessed is the eunuch, which with his hands has wrought no iniquity, nor imagined wicked things against God: for unto him shall be given the special gift of faith, and an inheritance in the temple of the LORD more acceptable to his mind. 15 For glorious is the fruit of good labors: and the root of wisdom shall never fall away.
16 As for the children of adulterers, they shall not come to their perfection, and the seed of an unrighteous bed shall be rooted out. 17 For though they live long, yet shall they be nothing regarded: and their last age shall be without honor.
18 Or, if they die quickly, they have no hope, neither comfort in the day of trial. 19 For horrible is the end of the unrighteous generation.
Wisdom 4
1 Better it is to have no children, and to have virtue: for the memorial thereof is immortal: because it is known with God, and with men. 2 When it is present, men take example at it; and when it is gone, they desire it: it wears a crown, and triumphs for ever, having gotten the victory, striving for undefiled rewards.
3 But the multiplying brood of the ungodly shall not thrive, nor take deep rooting from b^st^rd [reprobate] slips, nor lay any fast [firm] foundation. 4 For though they flourish in branches for a time; yet standing not last, they shall be shaken with the wind, and through the force of winds they shall be rooted out. 5 The imperfect branches shall be broken off, their fruit unprofitable, not ripe to eat, yea, meet for nothing. 6 For children begotten of unlawful beds are witnesses of wickedness against their parents in their trial. 7 But though the righteous be prevented with death, yet shall he be in rest.
8 For honorable age is not that which stands in length of time, nor that is measured by number of years. 9 But wisdom is the gray hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age.
10 He pleased God, and was beloved of him: so that living among sinners he was translated. 11 Yea speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul. 12 For the bewitching [manipulative words] of naughtiness does obscure things that are honest; and the wandering of concupiscence [lust and strong desire] does undermine the simple mind. 13 He, being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time: 14 For his soul pleased the LORD: therefore hasted He to take him away from among the wicked. 15 This the people saw, and understood it not, neither laid they up this in their minds, That his grace and mercy is with his saints, and that he has respect unto his chosen.
16 Thus the righteous that is dead shall condemn the ungodly which are living; and youth that is soon perfected the many years and old age of the unrighteous. 17 For they shall see the end of the wise, and shall not understand what God in his counsel has decreed of him, and to what end the LORD has set him in safety. 18 They shall see him, and despise him; but God shall laugh them to scorn: and they shall hereafter be a vile carcass, and a reproach among the dead for evermore. 19 For he shall rend [tear] them, and cast them down headlong, that they shall be speechless; and he shall shake them from the foundation; and they shall be utterly laid waste, and be in sorrow; and their memorial shall perish. 20 And when they cast up the accounts of their sins, they shall come with fear: and their own iniquities shall convince them to their face.
