Patti,
I loved what you said!
Most of my life,
what I’ve heard or read, was backwards from what you
wrote.
Most people that
I’ve heard & read seem to make us the ones who
sacrifice, in order to buy, the ultimate treasure, Jesus
or eternal life.
I’m so glad that
you put the perspective where it should be, that Jesus is
the one who sacrificed in order to obtain what was
precious in his eyes, the church.
Those of us who
are saved are a purchased possession:
Acts 20:28
¶ Take heed therefore unto
yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy
Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God,
which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Ephesians 1:14
Which is the earnest of our
inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession, unto the praise of his glory.
We don’t
purchase Jesus, he purchased us with his own blood.
The way those
two parables had so often been presented, was from a works
salvation perspective.
It also made
people feel good about themselves, that they wanted Jesus
soooo much, that they sacrificed all that they had to get
him.
When the truth
is that, like you quoted, there is “none that seeketh
after God”.
Also, salvation
is a free gift to us, by grace through faith.
What you wrote
is opposite to our pride.
Our pride, still
resident in our hearts, our pride which is the lifeblood
of our old nature, thrives on religion, especially on our
works.
By nature we go
the way of Cain, the deceitfulness of our old man, feeds
our pride with works to either get saved or works to stay
saved.
Either way, it
is based on, “Look what I’ve done!”
It’s like
saying, “I did everything I could, and now I’ll be
rewarded with eternal life”.
Or it’s like
saying, “Since I’ve been saved, I’ve done everything I
could, so now I won’t lose that reward of eternal life”.
Both, however,
are abominable, and opposite to the gospel of grace.
The LORD
rejected that thinking when Cain first approached him that
way, and he still rejects that thinking.
So, if Abel came
with only innocent lamb’s blood, that was by faith.
It’s always been
the same thing - the LORD only looked at innocent lamb’s
blood.
Whether with
Abel, or with the first Passover, all innocent lamb’s
blood has been a forward looking picture of the blood of
the Lamb of God.
The blood of the
Lamb of God is the only thing that the LORD eternally
looks at.
The blood of the
Lamb of God is the only thing that can wash away sin.
The blood of the
Lamb of God is the only thing precious enough to purchase
wicked sinners from the just damnation of hell.
The blood of the
Lamb of God is the only thing that keeps us ever clean
before the eyes of the LORD.
A similar thing,
where people have tried to use something in the scriptures
to imply a works salvation is the following:
Matthew 19:24
And again I say unto you,
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of
God.
They quote line
24 and then go on to teach that this is actually talking
about a very, low, tight & small opening, that fully
loaded camels absolutely could not pass through.
They go on to
say that if every last thing was stripped off of the
camel, and if the camel squeezed as hard as it could, then
it barely made it through the opening.
Again, they are
talking about self-sacrificing & effort is what was
needed to get the camel through the opening named, “The
Eye of the Needle”.
So, in the
context, they are thus talking about self-sacrificing
& effort as being what is needed to enter the kingdom
of God.
That is a works
salvation interpretation, even though they supposedly
prove their interpretation by citing someone’s commentary
or quoting an Israeli tour guide.
Again, thank you
for keeping Jesus the focus,
Gino