But I and many others are not failing, because we are not doing it to be saved or stay saved.
We are doing it out of love for God.
I understand, all who have accept Jesus want to please God. Jesus is God and I don't think he has ever ssaid that observing the scraps of Torah that could be kept is what He wants man to do. What He did say was: Matt25:
31 “When the Son of Man comes in His shining-greatness, He will sit down on His throne of greatness. All the angels will be with Him. 32 All the nations of the earth will be gathered before Him. He will divide them from each other as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on His right side, but the goats He will put on His left side.
34 “Then the King will say to those on His right side, ‘Come, you who have been called by My Father. Come into the holy nation that has been made ready for you before the world was made. 35 For I was hungry and you gave Me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave Me water to drink. I was a stranger and you gave Me a room. 36 I had no clothes and you gave Me clothes to wear. I was sick and you cared for Me. I was in prison and you came to see Me.’
37 “Then those that are right with God will say, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You? When did we see You thirsty and give You a drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and give You a room? When did we see You had no clothes and we gave You clothes? 39 And when did we see You sick or in prison and we came to You?’ 40 Then the King will say, ‘For sure, I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of My brothers, you have done it to Me.’
41 “Then the King will say to those on His left side, ‘Go away from Me! You are guilty! Go into the fire that lasts forever. It has been made ready for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry but you did not give Me food to eat. I was thirsty but you did not give Me water to drink. 43 I was a stranger but you did not give Me a room. I had no clothes but you did not give Me clothes. I was sick and in prison but you did not come to see Me.’
44 “Then they will ask, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger? When did we see You without clothes or sick or in prison and did not care for You?’ 45 Then He will say to them, ‘For sure, I tell you, because you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 These will go to the place where they will be punished forever. But those right with God will have life that lasts forever.
This is what the new covenant is all about. I admire the good deeds of the Salvation Army. Being part of their church would be a blessing. I just cannot fathom taking the time to keep feast days that were meant for only one nation when we could be taking those hours and building Habitat homes for those who need and cannot afford roofs over their heads. I know one family we built a home for and when they see me they are so grateful for the time many took to give them a special home in a nice neighborhood.
God gives His ability to those who love Him to keep His words if they have such a desire.
Amen, As far as I can see His desire for Christians is to love and respect others. This is a full time challenge that produces blessings unimaginable. I raise a garden and I suppose I tend it on old covenant feast days and weekly Sabbaths. That time used produces blessings because I give to others the abundance of my crops. I don't mean to be bragging about what I do for Jesus, I just wanted to compare how we serve Him.
Torah has always been doable by faith and grace.
Then why did Jesus have to come to save man?
This is why Paul said he kept Torah faultlessly.
I really do not believe he ever wrote that TF. He did write that the law ended when Jesus came. Gal 3:19
I gave a list of scriptures in my other posts, but you and I differ on the interpretation.
We both have preconceived ideas as to where we are in the history of the Bible. I believe we are fully in the new covenant and you, from what i have read, believe we still have one foot in the old one. We both believe Jesus is our High Priest and I believe from the book of Hebrews that where we have a change in the Priesthood we also have a change in the law. Question: since Jesus has included Gentiles into the new covenant of grace and made all of us one in Him, why would He require gentiles to observe Israel's release from Egypt which was never a part of their ancestor's history? Deut5
No problem.
If you have trouble following even the NT commands, the real issue is how to acquire God's ability to do as God says.
Good question, do you have an answer? We all fall shortand since I do not have to obseerve days, months and years that is three things less that I have to answer to. Even with the power of the Holy Spirit as my guide I still fall short. I see the needs of people and pass by them. I say things that I should have taken more time to think out. Yep, as far as I know we all have our battle with sin, but the best thing is Jesus understands and He by His marvelous Grace forgives and forgets our unrighteousness.
That is actually a wonderful topic to discuss.
Yes it is.
The key to that issue is how to live the exchanged life: I no longer live, Christ lives in me, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, I do nothing with my own energy, but with God's energy that so powerfully works within me, I have Christ's mind, I have God's faith, etc.
But yet we sin. Jesus told the woman at the well to go and sin no more. Do you believe she was able to accomplish that task? We sin by omission and have no idea we are sinning. Neglecting our children by playing a round of golf could be a sin of omission. We only find out about things like that maybe years later when they are doing things that we could could have helped them avoid if we had just taken the time back when we spent our time on the golf course. I use that as a real example that happened to some of my relatives.
Once a believer learns how to do the more difficult NT commands with God's ability (grace) by faith, keeping the easier OT commands is a cake-walk.
Why, why do things that are not meant for us? Jesus didn't commission us to observe the old covenant. He gave us a better covenant to live by. Why spend time with useless endeavors? They may make you feel good, but what else does keeping days provide? If we abide by the new covenant we have a full time job.
Believe me, taking a day of rest from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday is a joy and very easy to do. My family looks forward to it.
God bless you for taking time with your family. Since Jews have been freed from the law and gentiles were never under the law we should be free to choose wisely by allowing the Holy Spirit to guide our time wisely. We live in a society that cannot shut down on a certain day. Some have duties on Saturday. Some live in areas where the sun never sets. Some live live where when the International date line was established changed the Sabbath to a different day. New Zealand and Australia and westward to Sinai are worshiping on Friday. I am told by Sabbath keepers that God also rests on the Sabbath with them. If that is so then He rests for 48 hours every week. Maybe that is why Sabbath keepers are also resting on Sunday instead of laboring 6 days like the command demands.
All that is so complicated and doesn't have anything to do with salvation as you have expressed, so why deviate from mainstream Christianity to keep days given only to a now defunct Israel? What has really been accomplished?
Following Biblical food laws is also easy to do.
Yes it is. I bet you spend a lot of time reading labels though.
The new covenant is not about what we eat, There are no laws prohibitions from eating anything that is palatable. Kinda like Noah who was given anything that pleased him for food.
The Old Way of Worship was made up of Laws about what to eat and drink. These Laws told how to wash and other things to do with the body. These things had to be done until Christ came to bring a better way of worship. Heb9:10
When a person has a will to do everything God says, God provides the grace to do it, step by step, line upon line.
Yes, but God, through Paul, wrote that the law ended when Jesus came, so God
is not telling Christians to obey Torah. He has a better law for Christians.
But Christ has a more perfect work. He is the One Who goes between God and man in this new and better way. The New Way of Worship promises better things. Heb 8:6
For the Law of Moses could not make men right with God. Now there is a better hope through which we can come near to God. Heb7:19
When a person thinks he has to do it in his own strength, - he's done - game over - defeat is guaranteed.
The power of the grace message is it frees people from performing in their own strength, based on the death of Jesus.
Amen!
The mistake of the grace message is it doesn't teach people how to live the exchanged life by faith in God's grace-ability, based on the resurrection of Jesus.
It is no mistake my friend, it is God's plan for our salvation. It is part o the new covenant, the remainder teaches Christians how to live by faith.
The Old Testament is a light upon the highest hill. We need it to help us understand the plan of salvation and to give us a glimpse of how God has worked throughout the ages. Thank God for preserving it for our benefit. I am thankful He has provided a new and better way to know we have salvation that is found in the new covenant.
