If I parked a new car in your driveway and PROMISED you in writing that it would take you to the store, would you believe it? Yes, of course. And you would be right. However, merely believing that fact and being in the store are not the same. In order for the car to deliver you to the store AS PROMISED a number of actions must be completed. You must walk to the car, open the door, sit down, insert the key, turn the key, place the transmission in gear, leave the driveway, take the right street, follow the right streets, arrive at the store parking lot, place the transmission in park position, turn off the engine, remove the key, open the door, get out, close the door, walk into the store–ONLY AT THIS POINT IS THE PROMISE FULFILLED. In the same way, in order for the PROMISE OF SALVATION to result in THE RECEPTION OF SALVATION, many specific actions (WORKS) must take place. This Truth is graphically illustrated in two exchanges that took place between Jesus and some Pharisees as recorded in John 3:1,2 and Matthew 22:15-18.

In John 3 we find a Pharisee saying to Jesus: “Rabbi (teacher), we (Pharisees) KNOW that You are a teacher SENT BY GOD, for no one can do these signs (miracles) that You do unless GOD HAS SENT HIM.” Then in Matthew 22 we find a group of Pharisees saying to Jesus: “Teacher, we know that YOU ARE TRUE AND TEACH THE WAY OF GOD IN TRUTH ….” Notice that the Pharisees KNEW (believed/ had faith) that Jesus was sent to them by God, and that everything He said came from God. YET THEY WANTED TO KILL HIM. The Pharisees BELIEVED THAT JESUS WAS SENT BY GOD TO TELL THEM HIS TRUTH. But their faith, which they openly professed, could not save them. As the following passages will show, modern churchman’s faith will not save him, no matter how many times or how loudly he professes it. Jesus, knowing that the Pharisees would not obey what they KNEW and PROFESSED to be God’s TRUTH, Jesus called them “sons of the devil” (Jn. 8:38,44). John 8:42 reveals why they were Satan’s spiritual children: “IF God were your father, you would LOVE ME.” In John 14:15 and 1 John 5:3 the Lord speaks to all who profess Him: “If you love Me, KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS.” “For this is the love of God, that we KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS.”

Within the Institutional Church there is believed a supposed “truth” that Satan planted long ago–that when Jesus referred to “the commandments,” that He was not referring to the Ten Commandments, which were supposedly “nailed to the cross.” Is this in fact a Biblical Truth? Jesus Himself answers the question in Luke 10:25-28 where we find a lawyer asking Him what he had to do in order to receive eternal life. Jesus told him that he must OBEY THE LAW (Ten Commandments). When asked what was written in the Law, the lawyer proceeded to quote several of the TEN COMMANDMENTS. Jesus then told him that if he obeyed the (ten) commandments “… you will live (eternally).” In Matthew 19:16-22 the Lord is being questioned by a rich man who asked the same question as the lawyer. In this instance Jesus began to quote the Ten Commandments. The man interrupted Him, stating that he had obeyed all ten of them throughout his life. Upon hearing that he obeyed the Law, Jesus replied that in order to be saved he had only one thing left to do–sell his possessions, give the money away and follow Him. In both cases Jesus told his questioners that they had to obey all ten of the commandments–the Law–which would include #4, which the church refuses to obey. This sin makes her parishioners “sons of the devil” and disqualifies her for salvation, which the following postings will prove. L.J.