The true gospel of Grace is joyful, not oppressive!

 Heavenly light and truth has this nature, that it lifts up the conscience, comforts the heart, and creates a free spirit; just as on the other hand the teaching of men naturally oppresses the conscience, tortures the heart and, quenches the spirit. (Sermons of Martin Luther, v.1)

Coercion in Religion

Therefore, we should so preach Christ as one who will reject nobody, however weak he may be, but will gladly receive and comfort and strengthen everybody; that we may always picture him to ourselves as a good shepherd. Then hearts will turn to him of their own accord, and need not be forced and driven. The Gospel graciously invites and makes men willing , so that they desire to go, and do go, to him with all confidence. And it begets a love for Christ in their hearts, so that they willingly do what they should, whereas formerly they had to be driven and forced. When we are driven, we do a thing with displeasure and against our will. That is not what God desires; therefore it is done in vain. But when I see that God deals with me graciously, so that I am contrained to fly to him; consequently, my heart is filled with happiness and joy.  (Sermons of Martin Luther, v.2)

 Law-based religion uses force and coercion, which is completely contrary to the Gospel of grace.  It’s impossible to force people into the real Gospel through emotional blackmail. They can be pressured into outer ‘religious’ works, but not into authentic heart faith, and trust in Christ alone.

The Difference Between a Wage you Earn, and a Gift you Receive

“We have often said – and I think we ought to thoroughly understand it by this time – that the Gospel cannot suffer us to preach works, however good and great these may be; for it seeks to pluck us down from our presumption and to set and plant us solely upon God’s mercy, that his work and grace alone may be extolled. Therefore, it suffers us not to rely upon our works. For one of these 2 must perish: if I Stand upon Gods grace and mercy, I do not stand upon my merit and works; and vice versa, if I stand upon my works and merit, I  do not stand upon God’s grace. For, ‘if it is by grace,’ says Paul, Rom. 11:6, ‘it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace.’ I cannot say that God owes me  reward, but I must confess that he has given it to be entirely as a free gift.” (Sermons of Martin Luther, v.2)

Romans 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. ” (ESV)    —  A wage is something you earned, but here it is contrasted with a free gift, which you did not work for or earn.

The Gospel is Good News!

For the word “Gospel” means a new message – a good message bearing joyful tidings, proclaiming something, that one gladly and eagerly hears. Not a law or a commandment, forcing or demanding from us and threatening punishment and condemnation if we do not obey it. Such a message none like to hear. Even if we, to our utmost ability, both teach and obey the law, yet no consolation and joy will result from it; because we can never so perfectly comply with its demands that it will cease to smite and accuse us. Therefore, if we were to be rescued, God had to send us, through his Son, a different message than the Law from which to derive consolation and peace. (Sermons of Martin Luther, v.2)

“Christendom” Hides the Divine Name? Huh?

. “However, the trend in recent times is to eliminate the name of God from Bible translations and from other uses.”  WT 1/15/2011

Seldom, if ever, will one hear the name of God extolled in Christendom’s churches.   WT 9/15/1969

it is a strange thing that the religious leaders in Christendom should try to hide, even destroy, that name.   12/15/1952

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK9-bJlSt6c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGTY6H6SLOw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDwMLe3TGf4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTNh2LRoMuQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YP2jTzGnCw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il-bJjeiOhY

 

Fred Franz Audio Clip from 1985

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmKdwk5SVXM&feature=plcp

Fred Franz was also one of the translators of the New World Translation

 

 

You Can’t Trust in Christ, and in Your Own Works at the Same Time.

Believing means: To hold to be true, and with all the heart to depend on, that which the Gospel and all the articles of faith say about Christ; that he has been sent to us by God the Father, that he suffered, died and rose again and ascended into heaven for the sole reason that we may obtain from God the Father will accept us and unfailingly give us that which is offered to us in the Gospel.

   Now, if I am to believe this, then I must not adulterate my faith with belief in my own works. I must not depend upon my own merits, daring to offer them to God, as do the monks and self-righteous Jews. There are two doctrines that will not agree and can never hold combined, namely, the belief that we , for Christ’s sake and without our merits , obtain God’s grace; and the belief that we obtain God’s grace by our own works. For if we could obtain this grace by our own merits, then we should not need Christ in addition. Such confusion and detestable patchwork of the sophists cannot be tolerated – the claiming that Christ, indeed, atoned for original sins and for sins done aforetime and that he opens to door of heaven, but that we ourselves, by our own good works, must now also atone for sins and merit grace in order to fully obtain salvation. This is to rob Christ of his honor; yea, to set him, his death, resurrection and ascension aside, as if his merit were not sufficient for us, and as if his sufferings and blood are not able to atone for sins. But St John says he is the only propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world. (sermons of Martin Luther, v.2)

 

John 6:28,29 – Then they said to him, What must we do, to be doing the works of God? Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him who He has sent.”  (ESV)

 

I John 2:2   – He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world.

 

Propitiation:  In 1 John 2:2; 4:10, Christ is called the “propitiation for our sins.”  Christ is “the propitiation,” because by his becoming our substitute and assuming our obligations he expiated our guilt, covered it, by the vicarious punishment which he endured. (Easton’s Bible Dictionary)

“Sola Gratia” – freely, without our merits and not for the sake of our works!

 

And that the passage we are considering and similar ones must be thus understood, Paul teaches in his epistles, especially in that to the Romans, where he proves that we are freely justified by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood. (Rom 3:24,25) here he plainly mentions the word ‘gratis’, i.e. freely, without our merits and not for the sake of our works. Thus, we may have a sure consolation, and not doubt God’s grace and salvation though we are truly unworthy and still have remnants of sin in us. If the people be taught thus: If you desire forgiveness of sins and a merciful God, you must do enough good works and possess sufficient merits to overcome and remove your sins – then faith is already nullified. Christ is then of no efficacy, conscience is robbed of all consolation, and man is driven to despair, because he seeks help by and in himself and dares to attempt to accomplish himself that for which Christ came to fulfill the Law, and to earn for us , by his obedience, grace and life eternal.

    SO, our passage on faith, and others like it, must be understood in this light; not perverted and marred by misleading comments and additions, for the purpose of belittling faith and contradicting Christ’s meaning. Such error will surely result if the teaching of good works is confused with that of faith; if distinction is not made between the chief doctrine of Christ’s gospel, appropriation by faith alone, and the teaching of the Law concerning good works. As I said above, these 2 doctrines cannot stand side by side,; they are directly contradictory. To believe that for Christ’s sake alone grace and eternal life are granted, and yet at the same time to seek and claim to obtain them by our own merits, is absurd. (Sermons of martin Luther, v.2)

Forgiveness of Sins first, not Moralism

 

Here your conscience, burdened by the demands of the Law, will say: You still have sin, and have not kept God’s commandments, which under threat of eternal condemnation, you are bound to keep. Answer: All this I know, alas, only too well, and you must not speak to me of it. Wait with your demands of the Law as to what I must do, till I first possess this chief part of my salvation, namely, Christ and his righteousness, Christ who conquers sin and death for me. This, alone, I want to hear now, and it shall transcend the other in importance as much as the heavens are higher than the earth. For at present the question is not, how I must live and what I must do, but how I may overcome sin and death, or, as Christ here says, be saved. But, after having attained all this, and being , in spite of all that is called sin, death, hell, God’s wrath, Law and works, in Christ justified and saved, and made heir of life eternal, then I want to know also how I must live here on earth. Then you may come and teach and admonish me, like a faithful schoolmaster, as much as you can, but never going further with your Moses than is right and necessary; not teaching me that thereby I can be saved, or can conquer sin and death. (Sermons of martin Luther, v.2)

How Much Field Service and Meetings, ‘Til You know for Sure God is Pleased WIth You??

All must acknowledge who have practiced their own self-appointed observances for any length of time, that they have no real assurance that God will be gracious unto them and take pleasure in them because of their lives and observances. Yet . . .  they go on  till God touches their hearts by a revelation of his law; then; alarmed, they must admit that they have lived without a knowledge of God and of his will, and that they have no counsel or help unless they lay hold on the words of the Gospel of Christ. (Sermons of Martin Luther, v.4)

 

Many who have been in law-based religions will say that they never felt they had peace with God. They were always unsure of their status with Him, and constantly felt that no matter how much they did, it was never enough.