WORKS
Righteousness
vs.
Keeping Jesus Commands

Big Note: 

If I could Earn My Salvation,
then Jesus would not have needed
to Die on the Cross for me.

[That's a Good Starting Point of Recognition]

• The Problem Below is not: Law vs. Grace

• The Problem we must face is: The Truth vs. The Lie

When it comes to Keeping Jesus Commandments:  We need to stick to Jesus' Words. We must know and accept Jesus' Definitions and Terms, and not try to mix metaphors. That just jumbles up the message.  Jesus is the best person to teach us about what he means: to Keep in Commands.

So let's read his words first, and not try in mix in our favorite pastor, teacher, evangelist, or influencer, to confuse His Message.

1. 
   
   
   
   This guide below is organized into 8 parts:

1-4. The foundation we built before - 

1--What works righteousness is (Acts 15:1, Galatians 2:16, Romans 3:28, Ephesians 2:8-9), 

2--which laws were fulfilled in Christ (Colossians 2:16-17, Hebrews 10:10),
3--why keeping Jesus' commandments is evidence of love, 

4--not an attempt to earn salvation (John 14:15, 1 John 2:3).

5. NEW - If ye continue in my word (John 8:31-32)

"Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

The word "continue" is meno - to abide, remain, dwell. A true disciple doesn't just visit the Word, he lives in it.

6. NEW - How many Commandments? General vs. Particular
In a general sense there are 2 - Love God and Love thy neighbor (Matthew 22:37-40). But in a particular sense, every instruction from the Master is a command for the servant who loves Him.

Scholars who have counted find about 80 distinct imperative teachings of Jesus in the four Gospels that can be considered commandments.

About 30 of those are in the Sermon on the Mount alone (Matthew 5-7).

Included are categorized lists in the handout - for example from the Sermon: Let your light shine (5:16), Be reconciled (5:24), Love your enemies (5:44), Pray in secret (6:6), Seek ye first the kingdom (6:33), Judge not (7:1) - and from the rest of the Gospels: Abide in me (John 15:4), Go teach all nations (Matthew 28:19), Take up your cross daily (Luke 9:23).

7. The Good Steward vs. The Lazy Steward
This is the heart of the matter:

Matthew 24:45 - "Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?"
Luke 12:35 - "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning;"
Matthew 24:48-51 - The evil servant says "My lord delayeth his coming" and begins to smite his fellowservants and to eat and drink with the drunken.

The good steward knows the master's will because he studies it beforehand. He anticipates. He is about his master's business.

The lazy steward doesn't know the will because he never cared to learn it. He gets drunk, abuses others, and is exposed when the master comes at an hour he knows not.

And Jesus Himself gave us the perfect model for this:

John 5:19 - "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise."
 

John 8:29 - "I do always those things that please him."

To be like Jesus is to say: "I want to know what my Father is saying and doing, and be a part of that. That is my crown and my priority."

All the words of Jesus become my training manual for that.

The handout includes all KJV verses, insight boxes, the comparison table, and a final page on James 2 and Titus 3:5-8.