Get That Self-Righteous Rabbit!
We went round and round as he kept rabbiting down heretical holes, trying to prove his own righteousness by works
James and Jessica, some local “Jehovah’s Witnesses”, knocked on my neighbor’s door…
Not too sure it wasn’t my door they were at, I answered. Then when I saw where they were I told them to go around back, as the neighbor sealed the front door due to drafts. But then I noticed who, or what, they were. As I hesitated they said, “Well, can we speak with you then?” I initially said no but then thought twice about it, taking them one of the ministry’s tracts. As I gave him the tract James started into a rant about what Christians need to do to ensure they have eternal life.
Did you get that? What Christians need to do to have eternal life?
This guy was using the same doctrine as Roman Catholics and Mormons, which says Jesus enables you to be saved but you must work in obedience to His commands to then ensure you have eternal life! Works righteousness was what I was hearing all over again; the difference between ‘infused’ and ‘imparted’ righteousness.
Ephesians 2:1-10 (World English Bible)
“You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience among whom we also all once lived in the lust of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus for by grace you have been saved *through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, *not of works, that no one would boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.”
So I took James and Jessica through the scriptures, or rather as James tried to take me through his and I read them in context, which just flatly annoyed him when the context continually demonstrated his error. I was able to stay on the point, with some effort, that only by trusting in the Biblical Jesus, not some figment of your or someone else’s making which is a violation of the Second of the Ten Commandments, can you be saved. If you trust in a false Jesus you will be lost in your sin and hear those terrible words the real Jesus will utter to such false converts.
In other words, Only Jesus Saves.
James kept trying to rewrite what Paul clearly taught by saying he, Paul, wrote Jesus was given to bring man back to perfection that Adam’s sin made mankind corrupt with and the obedience of Jesus made all mankind perfect again, able to be righteous in their efforts to obey. Also not true without repentance and faith in Y’Shua which results in works, not a righteousness from works, as James clearly explained.
I then asked James what these “works” were that God expects of us for salvation. And when he stumbled, trying to reiterate evangelism and discipleship are required to earn eternal life, that this was the “works” God wanted, I quoted Jesus, where he had answered the same question of someone also trying to justify himself, from John 6:
“Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.'”
I then had the opportunity to take him to the Law to show him his sin, but he kept coming back to this false doctrine of Jesus making all of man perfect so we can work for righteousness. We went round and round as he kept rabbiting down heretical holes, trying to prove his own righteousness by works, and I kept dragging him back into the Light of God’s Law, like a good varmint dog Christian should. I so wanted him to stop and listen; to humble himself to God’s word, but he would have none of it. It was actually getting ridiculously sad how shaky his stance was looking in front of Jessica. I felt pity for him. Jessica only nodded once in a while; I wasn’t sure she agreed with him much after a while.
We ended with this perfectly arranged setting in which James tried to use Matthew 28:18-19 to contend that Jesus said to work in order to gain eternal life. I then used the same passages to show that Jesus is God. After all, why would you baptize in the name of an archangel and how then could Jesus have ALL authority if he was only a creation? I then pointed out the context leaves no room for his interpretation. It is clear in the context of the verse (and other verses concerning that moment when Jesus was going to Heaven and giving final commands to His followers) that Jesus was saying to those who were already saved by Him to go preach and disciple the nations. There is no mention of the requirement of their work to be saved here as they were already made new by His sacrifice, made able to obey by His Resurrection.
And, on the subject of the Deity of Christ, I was able to show clearly that Jesus was referred to as God in scripture, and that if Jesus is NOT God then the perfection of His sacrifice is in question. “Doesn’t scripture say that ‘Only God is good’? Didn’t Jesus say it Himself?” I said. And also, “When did Jesus ever correct someone for calling him God?”
James was very hard hearted, but, the Law will do its work on him. For though I had compassion for him, for the terrible deception he is in, I flatly refused to give him any Grace. I hammered him with the Law until he either ran away, refusing to humble himself before God, or condemned himself, agreeing with God. I was ready to tell him of God’s Mercy but he ran away, still proclaiming his own righteousness by works.
And, yes, the whole time I did not let them in my house, but stood out front with them as we spoke for a full hour. I saw Jessica was getting uncomfortable standing so long but I chalked it all up to their willingness to engage in heresy: it’s not my job to make them comfortable.
I even had opportunity to correct him on his own doctrine, by showing him JW’s believe Jesus is not God and they teach he does not save from sin, and that makes them unable to trust in Jesus as their Messiah. In all that I showed him I kept repeating that if his understanding of Jesus is not the Biblical Jesus then God cannot save him. He wasn’t too sure about all of this so I had the chance to gently encourage him and Jessica to seek the Truth, their own souls being at stake.
Without a perfect sacrifice there is no forgiveness for your sins against God, so Jesus must be God.
You’ve got to sic those self righteous rabbits with God’s Ten Guns when they jump down works righteousness holes. Remember that!
Drag them into the Light of God’s Law, kicking and screaming if need be. But whatever you do don’t back down, ever.
Never, ever, ever, ever, bail and give them God’s Grace until the Law has been allowed to do its work, stopping the mouth of the sinner:
Romans 3:19
“Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.”
And who is “under the Law?”:
1 Timothy 1:8-11
“Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, understanding this, that *the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.”
In other words, the law is to be used on every sinner that proclaims their own righteousness, apart from Jesus.
Law to the proud, Grace to the humble.
Come on! You can do THAT!
Seek the lost while you still can.
Patrick Burwell
OnlyJesusSaves.com
Footnotes :
*all scriptural emphasis is my own
All the scripture references are taken from the World English Bible, the only non-copyrighted Bible on the internet.
