Almost all who try to build the kingdom of God
keep trying to build it without the cornerstone:
Christ Our Righteousness.
The Jews tried it.
The Catholics tried it.
Most Protestants and Evangelicals are trying;
they profess Christ but not his righteousness.
But the kingdom cannot be built without Christ
and his righteousness.
And no matter how much effort
is put into trying that,
it will not work.
And it makes no difference
how confident these groups are,
the kingdom must be built on Christ.
The world likes to believe in itself.
But even if the whole world should say
apples plus oranges is apples alone,
the whole world would be wrong.
But people tend to trust what is popular,
the more popular, the more trust.
But there have been many times
that almost all people have been wrong;
yet God has always maintained the truth.
"Faith alone" means faith alone,
not faith plus repentance or anything else.
Salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone.
That is Bible and Reformation truth.
Anyone who believes in the Son has life
because those who trust in the Son
to be their life have eternal life.
You should make every effort to repent
but you must put absolutely no trust
whatsoever in that effort to save you.
To be saved, to have eternal life,
all, absolutely all, your trust must be in Christ.
That is the reason he showed Martin Luther,
the father of the Protestant Reformation,
that the righteousness that saves you
is not yours at all, but rather is that of Christ
who took your place on the cross.
Those who understand that will place
all their trust on Christ and none on self.
That truth brings faith in Christ alone,
so that people not only profess it, but have it.
They must realize that Christ alone
is their entire righteousness for salvation.
That is the core of the Biblical gospel.
That is the center of Reformation truth.
And that is what was faithfully declared
for 300 years following the Reformation.
But then Charles Finney,
the father of modern Evangelism,
rejected the core of the gospel as false.
And today most denominations
hardly mention that core of the gospel at all.
They treat what the Lord showed the Reformers
as though it were unneeded, of little im****tance.
But this is what happened when the preachers
stopped teaching that the righteousness of Christ
must be imputed (regarded, ascribed, assigned)
by Christ as yours for you to be saved:
People started trusting in part in their own efforts
to submit, repent, and obey to save them
rather than just obeying because God said to.
And they began to interpret many Bible verses
not as giving the actual results of salvation
as the Lord showed to the Reformers
but rather as giving requirements
besides faith for salvation.
Today except for some of the original ones,
denominations profess salvation by faith alone
but teach salvation by faith plus repentance;
that is no secret; it is on their websites.
And even those denominations that
still teach what they profess
do not plainly tell people
that they must not divide trust for salvation.
Now this is the inescapable problem:
If denominations profess faith alone saves
but then teach faith plus more saves
or do not plainly tell people not to divide trust
between Christ and self or church for salvation,
what about individuals who profess faith alone?
Hopefully their faith is on Christ alone
for their entire righteousness, or are they
doing just what those denominations do,
professing the one thing but doing the other,
or not being sure to have undivided trust?
Now I hope you will not ignore this matter
since it is a matter of heaven and eternal life,
and not just make some little effort,
but rather pursue it with all you have,
and make absolutely sure that you understand
the absolute necessity for the imputation
of the righteousness of Christ to you.
Do not be afraid but trust the Lord;
the moment you know that Christ must be
your entire righteousness for your salvation,
he will be your entire righteousness and salvation.
And for those who already do have all their trust
on Christ for salvation despite all the world,
may you by the Word affirm your salvation
and that you are in the kingdom.
For those who want to call on the Lord Jesus
for salvation, a prayer such as this is that call:
Lord Jesus,
I know that you are the one God with your Father,
and that by faith in you alone is our entire salvation.
I know that it is because the whole world is fallen
and is dead in sin and has no righteousness at all,
that you came into the world as our Substitute
to keep all the commands and do the will of God
and to take our place on the cross unto death.
I know that it is by the shedding of your blood
in taking the penalty for our sins upon yourself
that you became the righteousness of God for us.
And I know that when God the Father raised you
back from the dead it showed that he accepted
your life and death for us as our eternal Substitute.
I cast myself on your mercy; all my trust is on you;
I cannot save myself; my destiny is in your hands.
You alone are my righteousness and eternal life.
Thank you for your mercy and grace. Amen!
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http://roines.home.mindspring.com
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