SAVED BY WORKS - NYOBS 87.02

SAVED BY WORKS

We are save by Works, but not ours; it is the finished Work of Jesus Christ.

Covenant of Works

·         Adam was in a covenant relationship with God when in the Garden of Eden, it was a COVENANT OF WORKS of what he must do in order to obtain eternal life; live forever and what would happen if he chose by FREE WILL to reject it. – This is commonly called the Adamic Covenant or the Covenant of Nature, but described best as a COVENANT OF WORKS. (There is no mediator in a covenant of Works.)

·         There are three parts to a covenant; 1) A clear stipulation of the relationship of the parties involved - 2) The covenant promise of blessings for obedience and punishment for disobedience. - 3) The definitions of the legal binding conditions, stipulations and provisions to obtain the blessing.  There was also usually a Sign of the Covenant which was an outward guarantee of an inward reality.  For Noah the sign was the Rainbow and for Abraham, the sign was Circumcision.   

·          Adams’s Covenant of Works; 1) The Parties of the Covenant was God and Adam. - 2) The Promise implied was the blessing that mortal Adam would live forever. - 3) The Condition was that he must not eat of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil or he would die; it was simple, Keep the Law or Break the Law. -  The Sign of the Adamic Covenant if there was one, would be the “Tree of Life”.  NYOBS 17.02 – TREE OF LIFE

·         Moses’ Covenant of Works; 1) The Parties to the Covenant was God and the Nation of Israel. - 2) The Promise of blessings was that His chosen people would have a way back to God, coming into His full fellowship and have ETERNAL LIFE.  - 3) The Condition was that they must keep EVERY ONE of the 613 Laws that God gave the Nation of Israel through Moses, THEN they would have everlasting life with God in heaven. -  “Circumcision” became the Sign of the Mosiac Covenant.

·         Jesus’s Covenant of Grace; 1) The Parties of the Covenant are the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and the people He would redeem. – 2) The Promise; man by the Grace of God will have a way back to God, to come into full fellowship with Him and have ETERNAL LIFE.  3) The Conditions was that the Son would become a man born of a woman and FOR US obey ALL the Laws of the COVENANT OF WORKS and become THE MEDIATOR between God and Man. He must remain sinless, but still pay the sinner’s penalty of death that we all deserve. However the people MUST place their FAITH in God’s Son, Jesus the Christ and become OBEDIENT to His decrees and commands. – The Sign of the Grace Covenant is the Cross and the empty tomb along with the sacraments of Baptism and Communion; all an outward guarantee of an inward reality. –  NYOBS 08.34 -  BLOOD COVENANT

Hosea 6:7 – Adam was in a covenant with God
⁷ But like ADAM, you broke my COVENANT and betrayed my trust. (NLT)

Genesis 2:15-17 – Not eat of the tree of knowledge Good & Evil
¹⁵ The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.
¹⁶ But the LORD God warned him, “You may FREELY EAT the fruit of every tree in the garden—
¹⁷ except the TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL. If you eat its fruit, YOU ARE SURE TO DIE.” (NLT)

Romans 5:12-21 – Jesus became the Second Adam
¹² When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.
¹³ Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break.
¹⁴ Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as ADAM did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come.
¹⁵ But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through THIS OTHER MAN, Jesus Christ.
¹⁶ And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.
¹⁷ For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.
¹⁸ Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone.
²⁰ God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant.
²¹ So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

(NLT)

Genesis 17:7 - Covenant of Grace; generation to generation
⁷ I will confirm MY COVENANT with you and your descendants after you, from GENERATION TO GENERATION.

This is the EVERLASTING COVENANT: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you. (NLT)

The Fall

·         When Adam ate of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, he broke his covenant with God and therefore God removed him from the Garden of Eden lest he eat from the tree of life and live forever in the fallen condition of sinful man SEPARATED from God forever.

·         Death is best described in its broadest sense as Physical as well as Spiritual along with separation from God for eternity. – Adam and Eve were innocent, they were without sin and walked and talked with God in the Garden and although they were MORTAL, they could have lived forever in the presence of God. – Eternal life was based on their Works or Obedience.

Genesis 3:22 – Live forever in a fallen condition
²² Then the LORD God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out,

TAKE FRUIT FROM THE TREE OF LIFE, and eat it?

THEN THEY WILL LIVE FOREVER!” (NLT)

Genesis 3:23 – God banished Adam & Eve from the Garden
²³  So the LORD GOD BANISHED THEM from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. (NLT)

Works

·         In the very beginning, Man could NOT keep the Covenant of Works, and as time moved on, God though Moses made ANOTHER Covenant of Works with Man.

·         Moses wrote that keeping the Laws was the way to make a person right with God, Paul writing to the Romans said Moses Laws of Works was intended to bring Eternal Life but instead brought DEATH. -  It is just IMPOSSIBLE for Man to keep all the Laws of Moses, because breaking just one of them makes you guilty of breaking them all.

·         This Covenant of Works is still in effect; if you do not keep the Mosaic Laws you will die and be separated from God forever.

Romans 6:23 – The punishment for SIN is DEATH
²³ For THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (NLT)

Romans 10:5 – Keep ALL the LAWS – made right with God
⁵ For Moses writes that THE LAW’S way of

MAKING A PERSON RIGHT WITH GOD requires

OBEDIENCE TO ALL OF ITS COMMANDS.

(NLT)

Galatians 3:12 – Obeying the Law brings eternal LIFE

¹² This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, “IT IS THROUGH OBEYING THE LAW

THAT A PERSON HAS LIFE.” (NLT)

Leviticus 18:5 – Keep the LAW and have eternal life
⁵ If you obey my decrees and my regulations,

YOU WILL FIND LIFE through them. I am the LORD.

(NLT)

Romans 4:1-15 – Counted righteous because of FAITH
¹ Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about BEING MADE RIGHT WITH GOD?
² If his GOOD DEEDS had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way.
³ For the Scriptures tell us,

“ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND

GOD COUNTED HIM AS RIGHTEOUS

BECAUSE OF HIS FAITH.”
⁴ When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned.
⁵ But PEOPLE ARE COUNTED AS RIGHTEOUS, not because of their work, but BECAUSE OF THEIR FAITH IN GOD who forgives sinners.
⁶ David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are declared righteous without working for it:
⁷ Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight.
⁸ Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of sin.”
⁹ Now, is this blessing only for the Jews, or is it also for uncircumcised Gentiles? Well, we have been saying that

ABRAHAM WAS COUNTED AS RIGHTEOUS BY GOD

BECAUSE OF HIS FAITH.
¹⁰ But how did this happen? Was he counted as righteous only after he was circumcised, or was it before he was circumcised? Clearly, God accepted Abraham before he was circumcised!
¹¹ Circumcision was a SIGN that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him to be righteous—even before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith but have not been circumcised.

They are counted as righteous because of their faith.
¹² And Abraham is also the spiritual father of those who have been circumcised, but only if they have the same kind of faith Abraham had before he was circumcised.
¹³ Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was

BASED NOT ON HIS OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S LAW, but

ON A RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

that comes by FAITH.
¹⁴ If God’s promise is only for those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless.
¹⁵ For THE LAW ALWAYS BRINGS PUNISHMENT

ON THOSE WHO TRY TO OBEY IT.  (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!)  (NLT)

New Covenant of Grace

·          Neither Adam’s Covenant of Works nor Moses Covenant of Works was able to save mankind from death and separation from God. -  THE LAW’S COMMANDS, WHICH WERE SUPPOSED TO BRING LIFE, BROUGHT SPIRITUAL DEATH INSTEAD. – That’s why God sent his Own Son, to be born of a woman, born under the law to fulfill all the provisions of the Law once and for all.  - Jesus did not sin yet was murdered by Satan; crucifying him on a tree that was reserved for sinners. – We have been freed from this same Law of Works by virtue of Christ’s work at the cross.

·         It was His death, resurrection and ascension to the right hand of God the Father that gave man this new Covenant of Grace. - We are saved by His GRACE through our FAITH in the WORK of Jesus Christ on the cross and not based on any of our WORKS.  We can do nothing to earn our salvation, it is a FREE Grace Gift from God.

·         LISTEN; whether you like it or not; if you reject the New Covenant of Grace offered by Jesus Christ, then you are still under the Old Covenant Laws, which cannot save. - Man just cannot keep the laws.  The Jewish nation has rejected Jesus as the Messiah and remain only a nation of Works; ALL are under the Laws of Moses.  The laws of Moses pointed out that man was indeed in need of a Messiah; a Savior.

1 Peter 2:22 – Jesus never sinned
²² HE NEVER SINNED, nor ever deceived anyone. (NLT)

Romans 5:18-19 – Jesus obeyed the Covenant of Works
¹⁸ Yes, Adam’s one sin brings CONDEMNATION FOR EVERYONE, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and NEW LIFE FOR EVERYONE.
¹⁹ Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.

Romans 7:9-11 – The LAW was intended to lead to LIFE
⁹ At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life,
¹⁰ and I died. So I discovered that THE LAW’S COMMANDS, WHICH WERE SUPPOSED TO BRING LIFE,

BROUGHT SPIRITUAL DEATH INSTEAD.
¹¹ Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me. (NLT)

The Take Away

·         In the beginning having EVERLASTING LIFE in the presence of God was based on WORKS; what man did or didn’t do, but Adam the ONE and only SINLESS man could not keep the Covenant of Works, nor could just ONE man out of the millions in the Nation of Israel keep ALL the laws of Moses’ Covenant of Works.

·         The Book says Works COULD save you if you could only just keep the Mosaic laws of God, BUT SINFUL MAN CANNOT. - What the Law did was show that man in his fallen sinful condition could not keep God’s laws and was desperately in need of a Savior; a Messiah.

·         God in His mercy and grace, sent a second Adam; His only Son to be the sinless MEDIATOR between God and Man, to become THE WAY for man to be united with God once again like he was with the first Adam before he rebelled and sinned.

·         God has placed these examples in the Book to show us we CANNOT be saved by WORKS. It requires Regeneration which is the outward evidence of the hidden, inward work of God.

·         LISTEN; the knowledge of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit does not equal regeneration; neither Jesus, John nor Paul pointed to miracles or even our Church Activity as evidence of regeneration. - The only evidence of regeneration or being born again is what is observed over TIME as a person demonstrates “in his own life” his genuine love for God and obedience to His commands and the acts of love that he freely extends to his fellow man.

·         The regenerated man will exhibit the Christ like traits of THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT which radiates - LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS, and SELF-CONTROL. – Not one or two of these, but ALL of them. – The NINE traits are all ONE FRUIT. - Satan’s influence or man working in his own strength and abilities cannot duplicate this. – This can only come through regeneration; the working of the Holy Spirit within us. – We cannot keep God’s laws without the Holy Spirit within us.

·         Being Born Again or Regenerated is totally a Grace Work of God; we can do nothing to earn it or deserve it.  The WORK of Jesus Christ on the Cross did it all and through the Holy Spirit, we are now predestined to be adopted as Sons of God, being continuously conformed to the Image of His son and re-molded to fit everything else in His Purpose and Will until the day He returns; IT’S A LIFE LONG PROCESS.  – IT’S IN THE BOOK –

Matthew 7:22-23 – I NEVER KNEW YOU
²² On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We PROPHESIED in your name and CAST OUT DEMONS in your name and PERFORMED MANY MIRACLES in your name.’
²³ But I will reply, ‘I NEVER KNEW YOU. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

(NLT)

Galatians 3:10-11- No one is made right by keeping the Law
¹⁰ But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “CURSED is everyone who does not observe and obey ALL the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.”
¹¹ So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “IT IS THROUGH FAITH THAT A RIGHTEOUS PERSON HAS LIFE.”

(NLT)

Galatians 5:22-23 – Fruit of the REGENERATED Spirit
²² But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives:

LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS, and SELF-CONTROL.

²³There is no law against these things!

(NLT)

Romans 8:29- We are conformed to be in the IMAGE of Jesus
²⁹ For those God foreknew he also

PREDESTINED TO BE CONFORMED

TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

(NIV2011)

Ephesians 1:11 – The Holy Spirit conforms us to God’s PURPOSE
¹¹ In him we were also chosen, having been

PREDESTINED ACCORDING TO THE PLAN OF HIM

who works out everything in conformity with the

PURPOSE OF HIS WILL.

(NIV2011)

Ephesians 1:5 – We are adopted as Sons through Jesus Christ
⁵ HE PREDESTINED US FOR ADOPTION

TO SONSHIP THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, in accordance with HIS PLEASURE AND WILL—

(NIV2011)

John 14:6 – Jesus is THE WAY
⁶ Jesus told him,

“I am THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE.

No one can come to the Father except through me. (NLT)

Acts 24:14 – The sect of Christ is known as THE WAY
¹⁴ However, I ADMIT THAT I WORSHIP THE GOD of our ancestors as a follower of THE WAY, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets, (NIV2011)

In the multitude of counselors,

there is wisdom.

Proverbs 11:14

I am grateful to those that went before me providing concepts, ideas, historical

information, and scripture verses.  Because of them I can stand on their shoulders

                         and see further that I otherwise ever could have.              

                                                                                                                                     

Antiquity of the Jews – Flavius Josephus Matthias

Apocrypha – Goodspeed

Baker Commentary on the Bible – Elwell

Bible Almanac; The – Packer-Tenney-White

Bible Commentary – F.B. Meyer

Bible Dictionary – Harper and Row

Bible Dictionary – Nelson’s

Dake’s Annotated Bible – Dake

English Standard Version Bible – ESV

Expositor’s Bible Commentary – Frank E. Gaebelein

Forgotten Books of Eden; The – World

Gospels Interwoven; The – Karmit Zarley

Illustrated Bible Dictionary; The – Tyndale

Interlinear Greek-English New Testament – Baker

Invisible War; The – Donald Grey Barnhouse

King James Version Bible – KJV

Lost Books of the Bible; The - World

Lost Books of the Bible; The - Bell

Matthew Henry’s Commentary - Zondervan

Missing Books of the Bible; The – Halo Press

Mysteries of the Bible – Readers Digest

Nag Hammadi Library; The – James M. Robinson

Nave’s Topical Bible - Zondervan

New International Dictionary of the Bible; The – Douglas - Tenney

New International Version Bible (2011) – NIV

New Living Translation Bible - NLT

Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls – Hugh J. Schonfield

Systematic Theology – Wayne Grudem

Thru the Bible – J. Vernon McGee

Vincent’s Word Studies of the New Testament – Mac Donald

Who’s Who in the Bible – Paul D. Gardner

Wycliffe Bible Commentary; The – Pfeiffer & Harrison

Wikipedia –

Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible; The – Tenney