Hebrews 6 & 10 – The Impossibility of Salvation – Part 7
Take them all, or just take 2… They are same works… fleshly works… the works of the law! They are only a FIGURE of true good works. And all they establish, at best, is YOUR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Romans 10:1-3 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness [true, heavenly, eternal righteousness: the impossibility of sin: PERFECTION], and going about to establish their own righteousness [trying to earn or prove their salvation by fleshly good works… love God, love your neighbor… “we can’t be perfect, but we can be better”… “just try to get better every day”], have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
You doing good works in the flesh is not proof of your salvation; it is not proof of you having God’s righteousness.
Rather, you believing that as a Christian you MUST do those fleshly good works, or that you WILL do those fleshly good works, because Jesus helps you do them, or He makes you do them… that is proof to me that you do NOT have God’s righteousness in your SPIRIT but you are still WORKING in the flesh to establish your OWN righteousness. You are ignorant of God’s righteousness. You are ignorant of PERFECTION. You don’t UNDERSTAND the New Covenant. You are IGNORANT of True Bible Salvation doctrine. You are NOT saved.
And this is what we find strictly warned against in Hebrews… the warning that Israel did not heed. This is why Israel “failed of the grace of God”.
Romans 9:31-32 But Israel, … sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. …
These workers today will happily condemn Israel for trying to be justified by the works of the law… while they believe that they themselves aren’t “following after the law” simply because they don’t follow ALL the numerous laws of Moses. But they just feel the need to follow a very general, condensed set of “moral laws” like “love God” and “love thy neighbor”. So they think THEY are NOT trying to be justified by the works of the law. But they absolutely are!
They are doing the same works as Israel was. They are FLESHLY good works. They are DEAD WORKS. They are not heavenly, spiritual, eternal, good works. They are the SAME, OLD(!), DEAD, works. They are the same works that ALL MEN do, and that all men CAN do. Fleshly good works are the works of the law. They are not true good works. If you believe Christians must do, or will do fleshly good works, then you are seeking righteousness by the works of the law, and you have failed of grace, just like Israel.
Went out from us
But just like Romans 9:32, no one today will admit any condemnation from Acts 15.
But Acts 15 is absolutely SCATHING to people who teach these doctrines of works salvation, and “works are proof of salvation”.
Acts 15:1,24 And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. … 24 Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:
The false brethren of today will try to be a subtle as a serpent, “Oh that isn’t me at all. I don’t teach that we have to keep the law to be saved.” Yeah, you do. That is exactly what you are teaching.
“No, I’m not saying you have to keep the law to GET saved, I’m just saying if you aren’t keeping the law, THEN you’re not really saved.”
Do you hear yourself? How is that not what the false brethren taught in Acts 15?
Notice this… they taught “Except ye [do some good works] ye cannot BE saved”. Not “you cannot GET saved.” You cannot BE saved. This false doctrine was not primarily about works required to GET saved. It was about works required to BE saved. They taught, “if you don’t do this… if you aren’t doing this… you cannot truly BE saved. You are not a real Christian IF you are not keeping THESE works.”
“No that isn’t me. I’m not talking about keeping the law of Moses at all, I’m just saying that if you’re not loving God and loving your neighbors, THEN you’re not really saved.”
And again… my response is: It’s the same thing… you are DESCRIBING the law of Moses. They ARE the law.
Matthew 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
All the law… all the Old Testament… all fleshly good works… hang on THOSE TWO commandments.
So that is EXACTLY what you are teaching! When you say those two things are required in true Christians, you are teaching ALL THE LAW. If you are teaching that the performance of ANY fleshly good works is necessary to truly BE saved (not GET saved), then you are teaching the WHOLE LAW.
My Dad pointed out that what a lot of these modern day law-keepers will say is, “We aren’t like Israel because we know our righteousness doesn’t come from the law. Our righteousness comes from our faith. BUT… we just obey the law AFTER we are saved, because we ARE saved.”
But trying to spin it that way doesn’t change anything. Because according to their doctrine, if they DON’T do those good works, they cannot BE saved.
If they fail to do good works, or if they turn away and choose not to do those works, then they are NOT REALLY SAVED. So their righteousness before God on judgment day is established by, and is dependent upon, their FLESHLY works. No good works of the law… no righteousness from faith. If you don’t or CAN’T obey the law, then you must not really have righteousness. And righteousness is supposed to come from your faith… so if you don’t obey the law, then you faith must be dead. No works, no righteousness.
How is that NOT, EFFECTIVELY, seeking righteousness (AS IT WERE), by the works of the law?
Matthew 25:46 And these [the wicked] shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
If you are not righteous, then you will not enter into Heaven. So there must be proof that you are righteous. Evidence of your righteousness.
what is that proof? How do you KNOW if someone is righteous??
To the law-keepers, and really to ALL the false brethren, they identify the righteous and the wicked, the saved and the unsaved, by whether or not men OBEY the law. Whether or not men DO good works.
How else do men DEFINE righteousness? They ALWAYS use the works of the law. Whether that is 400+ or even just 2. They use fleshly works to define righteousness and identify the righteous.
If you think righteousness comes from faith, but that that righteousness ENABLES men to keep the law, then your righteousness is DEFINED BY THE WORKS OF THE LAW. That is how you ESTABLISH that YOU are righteous. You are trying to establish that you are righteous, that you are really saved, that you really have faith, USING (as it were BY) the works of the law. You are using the works of the law, as the measuring stick, to establish, to prove to that you are saved.
You say, “well that’s just semantics. That’s just a bunch of logical reasoning, to arrive at that conclusion so you can try to accuse people who are really saved that that they aren’t really saved.
Romans 9:32 … they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law.
It isn’t always outright by the works of the law. It isn’t always obviously directly the works of the law. But that is what it boils down to. You can be effectively seeking righteousness not by faith, but by the works of the law, and yet not claim that you are, or not even KNOW that you are.
It may not be obvious to you, but that is effectively that they are doing: seeking to establish their own righteousness, EFFECTIVELY, by the works of the law.
How do I know I’m saved? How do I know I’m going to heaven? How do I know that I’m righteous? How do I know that I have real, true faith in God? Because now I keep the law!
That is establishing your righteousness… AS IT WERE… by the works of the law.
I recently heard a false Christian on TikTok trying to explain Matthew 7:22-23.
Matthew 7:22-23 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Now, he doesn’t claim to believe in works… he doesn’t THINK he believes in works. But he absolutely does… because he believes that fleshly works are the fruit / the results / the by-product of salvation.
So his explanation of this passage was, THEY weren’t saved because they believed that works saved them, but Jesus’ message to Christians here is, “you’re not saved because you’re trying to do good works, but because… you LOVE me. THEY were lost because they thought they had to keep the law, but YOU are really saved because you LOVED me.”
Love! “If you love, you are saved, but if you don’t LOVE, you cannot BE saved. You ARE NOT REALLY saved!” LOVE! A man MUST LOVE! Love God, love your neighbor! That is what they require: LOVE.
And love…
Romans 13:10 … love is the fulfilling of the law.
So they are teaching salvation is only possible, as it were, by the works of the law.
No matter how they spin it… EFFECTIVELY, they teach “ye cannot be saved”, unless you do good works… the works of the law (love). That is EFFECTIVELY what they teach. And the EFFECT of it is the subverting of souls. Just like a snare… Its effective, but its not obvious.
It is subtle as a serpent, but it is STILL, effectively, seeking righteousness by the works of the law.
You can take away the whole law of Moses and replace it with just one word: LOVE. And that one word brings you back into the yoke of ALL the law.
If you are teaching men that they have to LOVE, you are teaching them that they have to fulfill the WHOLE LAW.
“Oh no, we’re only saved by faith, not works”, they say. “But, you can’t just live however you want. If you are really saved, you WILL LOVE God, and you WILL LOVE your neighbor. You WILL do good works, if you really repented. You WILL keep the law, if you really believed on Him. Christians WILL turn from their sins, turn from their old life, and live for Jesus now, BECAUSE THEY LOVE Him. And if you DON’T love, if you WON’T love… then how could you truly BE saved? If you keep sinning and breaking God’s heart, how can you say you really LOVE Him? How can you say you ARE a Christian?”
See, they can SAY they believe they are saved by faith alone, they can SAY they don’t believe that they have to keep the law to be saved… but that is exactly (effectively) what they believe… they believe that they MUST love. They MUST at least do those two good works… And those works ARE the works of the law! So effectively, but not obviously, they subtly bring men back into the works of the law. And the works of the law (even just 2 of them) are bondage!
2 Peter 2:19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
They say you will be free, but they require you to serve the FLESH (corruption). They require works of the flesh.
So regardless of what they say they believe… because they believe a Christian MUST love, must do good works… they truly ARE seeking righteousness by the works of the law. No matter how they try to hide their working, and differentiate themselves from Israel, they believe they MUST do the works of the law, to really and truly BE saved… JUST LIKE ISRAEL did.
They are doing the works of the law (fleshly good works) to establish that they are saved.
They are WORKING, and they don’t even SEE it.
2Co 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
They SAY they don’t believe in works salvation… but they’re lying. Not just lying to you. Lying to themselves. “The heart is deceitful above all things”. Their own heart has deceived them.
They don’t outright SAY they are working to BE saved… because they don’t even KNOW that they are.
But because they believe good works MUST follow salvation as proof, as evidence, as a byproduct, as fruit… their doctrine requires them to keep working. They MUST do fleshly good works. They MUST do the ONLY fleshly good works that there really are… LOVE!
Love God, and love your neighbor: the works of the law!
Matthew 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
If you think you Christians still have to do good works, then you are a deceitful worker.
If you are teaching that Christians cannot believe in Christ, and say ONE PRAYER, ONE TIME, and then proceed to live the rest of their lives however they choose to, in the deepest, vilest sins known to man, and still go to Heaven … then you are teaching the WHOLE LAW.
If you are teaching, “well that’s really an impossibility. A true Christian would never do that. I would never do that”… then you are teaching “all the law.”
And that is EXACTLY what the false brethren in Acts 15 taught.
Acts 15:1 And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.
Look, these guys in Acts 15 knew who they were talking to. They weren’t teaching unbelievers.
They didn’t go out on the street corner, and proclaim the name of Jesus to a bunch of lost people.
They went INTO A CHURCH, and taught the BELIEVERS within that church. They were teaching “the brethren”. They were teaching people who had already known and believed on the name of Jesus Christ, and they were teaching them that that one act of faith, that one prayer that they prayed that one time, was NOT enough. And they were teaching Christians that, “hey guys, you can’t just live however you want now… Salvation does not end with a prayer. You’re not really going to be saved unless you DO something more. You have to LIVE a certain way. You have to give your life to the Lord. You gotta clean yourselves up, and keep the law. You can’t just live a sinful life. You can’t just do nothing… You’re not done.. You still gotta WORK!” “If you don’t work, ye cannot BE saved.” Not GET. BE!
Jan 19 2025
Hebrews 6 & 10 – The Impossibility of Salvation – Part 7
Hebrews 6 & 10 – The Impossibility of Salvation – Part 7
Take them all, or just take 2… They are same works… fleshly works… the works of the law! They are only a FIGURE of true good works. And all they establish, at best, is YOUR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Romans 10:1-3 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness [true, heavenly, eternal righteousness: the impossibility of sin: PERFECTION], and going about to establish their own righteousness [trying to earn or prove their salvation by fleshly good works… love God, love your neighbor… “we can’t be perfect, but we can be better”… “just try to get better every day”], have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
You doing good works in the flesh is not proof of your salvation; it is not proof of you having God’s righteousness.
Rather, you believing that as a Christian you MUST do those fleshly good works, or that you WILL do those fleshly good works, because Jesus helps you do them, or He makes you do them… that is proof to me that you do NOT have God’s righteousness in your SPIRIT but you are still WORKING in the flesh to establish your OWN righteousness. You are ignorant of God’s righteousness. You are ignorant of PERFECTION. You don’t UNDERSTAND the New Covenant. You are IGNORANT of True Bible Salvation doctrine. You are NOT saved.
And this is what we find strictly warned against in Hebrews… the warning that Israel did not heed. This is why Israel “failed of the grace of God”.
Romans 9:31-32 But Israel, … sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. …
These workers today will happily condemn Israel for trying to be justified by the works of the law… while they believe that they themselves aren’t “following after the law” simply because they don’t follow ALL the numerous laws of Moses. But they just feel the need to follow a very general, condensed set of “moral laws” like “love God” and “love thy neighbor”. So they think THEY are NOT trying to be justified by the works of the law. But they absolutely are!
They are doing the same works as Israel was. They are FLESHLY good works. They are DEAD WORKS. They are not heavenly, spiritual, eternal, good works. They are the SAME, OLD(!), DEAD, works. They are the same works that ALL MEN do, and that all men CAN do. Fleshly good works are the works of the law. They are not true good works. If you believe Christians must do, or will do fleshly good works, then you are seeking righteousness by the works of the law, and you have failed of grace, just like Israel.
Went out from us
But just like Romans 9:32, no one today will admit any condemnation from Acts 15.
But Acts 15 is absolutely SCATHING to people who teach these doctrines of works salvation, and “works are proof of salvation”.
Acts 15:1,24 And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. … 24 Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:
The false brethren of today will try to be a subtle as a serpent, “Oh that isn’t me at all. I don’t teach that we have to keep the law to be saved.” Yeah, you do. That is exactly what you are teaching.
“No, I’m not saying you have to keep the law to GET saved, I’m just saying if you aren’t keeping the law, THEN you’re not really saved.”
Do you hear yourself? How is that not what the false brethren taught in Acts 15?
Notice this… they taught “Except ye [do some good works] ye cannot BE saved”. Not “you cannot GET saved.” You cannot BE saved. This false doctrine was not primarily about works required to GET saved. It was about works required to BE saved. They taught, “if you don’t do this… if you aren’t doing this… you cannot truly BE saved. You are not a real Christian IF you are not keeping THESE works.”
“No that isn’t me. I’m not talking about keeping the law of Moses at all, I’m just saying that if you’re not loving God and loving your neighbors, THEN you’re not really saved.”
And again… my response is: It’s the same thing… you are DESCRIBING the law of Moses. They ARE the law.
Matthew 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
All the law… all the Old Testament… all fleshly good works… hang on THOSE TWO commandments.
So that is EXACTLY what you are teaching! When you say those two things are required in true Christians, you are teaching ALL THE LAW. If you are teaching that the performance of ANY fleshly good works is necessary to truly BE saved (not GET saved), then you are teaching the WHOLE LAW.
My Dad pointed out that what a lot of these modern day law-keepers will say is, “We aren’t like Israel because we know our righteousness doesn’t come from the law. Our righteousness comes from our faith. BUT… we just obey the law AFTER we are saved, because we ARE saved.”
But trying to spin it that way doesn’t change anything. Because according to their doctrine, if they DON’T do those good works, they cannot BE saved.
If they fail to do good works, or if they turn away and choose not to do those works, then they are NOT REALLY SAVED. So their righteousness before God on judgment day is established by, and is dependent upon, their FLESHLY works. No good works of the law… no righteousness from faith. If you don’t or CAN’T obey the law, then you must not really have righteousness. And righteousness is supposed to come from your faith… so if you don’t obey the law, then you faith must be dead. No works, no righteousness.
How is that NOT, EFFECTIVELY, seeking righteousness (AS IT WERE), by the works of the law?
Matthew 25:46 And these [the wicked] shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
If you are not righteous, then you will not enter into Heaven. So there must be proof that you are righteous. Evidence of your righteousness.
what is that proof? How do you KNOW if someone is righteous??
To the law-keepers, and really to ALL the false brethren, they identify the righteous and the wicked, the saved and the unsaved, by whether or not men OBEY the law. Whether or not men DO good works.
How else do men DEFINE righteousness? They ALWAYS use the works of the law. Whether that is 400+ or even just 2. They use fleshly works to define righteousness and identify the righteous.
If you think righteousness comes from faith, but that that righteousness ENABLES men to keep the law, then your righteousness is DEFINED BY THE WORKS OF THE LAW. That is how you ESTABLISH that YOU are righteous. You are trying to establish that you are righteous, that you are really saved, that you really have faith, USING (as it were BY) the works of the law. You are using the works of the law, as the measuring stick, to establish, to prove to that you are saved.
You say, “well that’s just semantics. That’s just a bunch of logical reasoning, to arrive at that conclusion so you can try to accuse people who are really saved that that they aren’t really saved.
Romans 9:32 … they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law.
It isn’t always outright by the works of the law. It isn’t always obviously directly the works of the law. But that is what it boils down to. You can be effectively seeking righteousness not by faith, but by the works of the law, and yet not claim that you are, or not even KNOW that you are.
It may not be obvious to you, but that is effectively that they are doing: seeking to establish their own righteousness, EFFECTIVELY, by the works of the law.
How do I know I’m saved? How do I know I’m going to heaven? How do I know that I’m righteous? How do I know that I have real, true faith in God? Because now I keep the law!
That is establishing your righteousness… AS IT WERE… by the works of the law.
I recently heard a false Christian on TikTok trying to explain Matthew 7:22-23.
Matthew 7:22-23 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Now, he doesn’t claim to believe in works… he doesn’t THINK he believes in works. But he absolutely does… because he believes that fleshly works are the fruit / the results / the by-product of salvation.
So his explanation of this passage was, THEY weren’t saved because they believed that works saved them, but Jesus’ message to Christians here is, “you’re not saved because you’re trying to do good works, but because… you LOVE me. THEY were lost because they thought they had to keep the law, but YOU are really saved because you LOVED me.”
Love! “If you love, you are saved, but if you don’t LOVE, you cannot BE saved. You ARE NOT REALLY saved!” LOVE! A man MUST LOVE! Love God, love your neighbor! That is what they require: LOVE.
And love…
Romans 13:10 … love is the fulfilling of the law.
So they are teaching salvation is only possible, as it were, by the works of the law.
No matter how they spin it… EFFECTIVELY, they teach “ye cannot be saved”, unless you do good works… the works of the law (love). That is EFFECTIVELY what they teach. And the EFFECT of it is the subverting of souls. Just like a snare… Its effective, but its not obvious.
It is subtle as a serpent, but it is STILL, effectively, seeking righteousness by the works of the law.
You can take away the whole law of Moses and replace it with just one word: LOVE. And that one word brings you back into the yoke of ALL the law.
If you are teaching men that they have to LOVE, you are teaching them that they have to fulfill the WHOLE LAW.
“Oh no, we’re only saved by faith, not works”, they say. “But, you can’t just live however you want. If you are really saved, you WILL LOVE God, and you WILL LOVE your neighbor. You WILL do good works, if you really repented. You WILL keep the law, if you really believed on Him. Christians WILL turn from their sins, turn from their old life, and live for Jesus now, BECAUSE THEY LOVE Him. And if you DON’T love, if you WON’T love… then how could you truly BE saved? If you keep sinning and breaking God’s heart, how can you say you really LOVE Him? How can you say you ARE a Christian?”
See, they can SAY they believe they are saved by faith alone, they can SAY they don’t believe that they have to keep the law to be saved… but that is exactly (effectively) what they believe… they believe that they MUST love. They MUST at least do those two good works… And those works ARE the works of the law! So effectively, but not obviously, they subtly bring men back into the works of the law. And the works of the law (even just 2 of them) are bondage!
2 Peter 2:19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
They say you will be free, but they require you to serve the FLESH (corruption). They require works of the flesh.
So regardless of what they say they believe… because they believe a Christian MUST love, must do good works… they truly ARE seeking righteousness by the works of the law. No matter how they try to hide their working, and differentiate themselves from Israel, they believe they MUST do the works of the law, to really and truly BE saved… JUST LIKE ISRAEL did.
They are doing the works of the law (fleshly good works) to establish that they are saved.
They are WORKING, and they don’t even SEE it.
2Co 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
They SAY they don’t believe in works salvation… but they’re lying. Not just lying to you. Lying to themselves. “The heart is deceitful above all things”. Their own heart has deceived them.
They don’t outright SAY they are working to BE saved… because they don’t even KNOW that they are.
But because they believe good works MUST follow salvation as proof, as evidence, as a byproduct, as fruit… their doctrine requires them to keep working. They MUST do fleshly good works. They MUST do the ONLY fleshly good works that there really are… LOVE!
Love God, and love your neighbor: the works of the law!
Matthew 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
If you think you Christians still have to do good works, then you are a deceitful worker.
If you are teaching that Christians cannot believe in Christ, and say ONE PRAYER, ONE TIME, and then proceed to live the rest of their lives however they choose to, in the deepest, vilest sins known to man, and still go to Heaven … then you are teaching the WHOLE LAW.
If you are teaching, “well that’s really an impossibility. A true Christian would never do that. I would never do that”… then you are teaching “all the law.”
And that is EXACTLY what the false brethren in Acts 15 taught.
Acts 15:1 And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.
Look, these guys in Acts 15 knew who they were talking to. They weren’t teaching unbelievers.
They didn’t go out on the street corner, and proclaim the name of Jesus to a bunch of lost people.
They went INTO A CHURCH, and taught the BELIEVERS within that church. They were teaching “the brethren”. They were teaching people who had already known and believed on the name of Jesus Christ, and they were teaching them that that one act of faith, that one prayer that they prayed that one time, was NOT enough. And they were teaching Christians that, “hey guys, you can’t just live however you want now… Salvation does not end with a prayer. You’re not really going to be saved unless you DO something more. You have to LIVE a certain way. You have to give your life to the Lord. You gotta clean yourselves up, and keep the law. You can’t just live a sinful life. You can’t just do nothing… You’re not done.. You still gotta WORK!” “If you don’t work, ye cannot BE saved.” Not GET. BE!
By Pastor • Christian Doctrine, False Prophets/Doctrine, Identifying False Christians • 0