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No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him-
the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough-
Psalms Chapter 49: Verses 7 - 8
Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.
In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat, for he grants sleep to those he loves.
Psalms Chapter 127: Verses 1 - 2
I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Ecclesiastes Chapter 1: Verse 14
Review the past for me, let us argue the matter together; state the case for your innocence.
Isaiah Chapter 43: Verse 26
I will expose your righteousness and your works, and they will not benefit you.
Isaiah Chapter 57: Verse 12
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
Isaiah Chapter 64: Verse 6
They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will be an unclean thing. Their silver and gold will not be able to save them in the day of the LORD's wrath. They will not satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs with it, for it has made them stumble into sin.
Ezekiel Chapter 7: Verse 19
"Therefore, son of man, say to your countrymen, 'The righteousness of the righteous man will not save him when he disobeys, and the wickedness of the wicked man will not cause him to fall when he turns from it. The righteous man, if he sins, will not be allowed to live because of his former righteousness.'
If I tell the righteous man that he will surely live, but then he trusts in his righteousness and does evil, none of the righteous things he has done will be remembered; he will die for the evil he has done.
And if I say to the wicked man, 'You will surely die,' but he then turns away from his sin and does what is just and right-
if he gives back what he took in pledge for a loan, returns what he has stolen, follows the decrees that give life, and does no evil, he will surely live; he will not die.
None of the sins he has committed will be remembered against him. He has done what is just and right; he will surely live.
"Yet your countrymen say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' But it is their way that is not just.
If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, he will die for it.
And if a wicked man turns away from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he will live by doing so.
Ezekiel Chapter 33: Verses 12 - 19
Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.
Daniel Chapter 9: Verse 18
For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.Murder
Matthew Chapter 5: Verse 20
"Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'?
Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'?
Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?
So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.' "Ten Healed of Leprosy
Luke Chapter 17: Verses 7 - 10
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:
"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men,robbers, evildoers, adulterers,or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."The Little Children and Jesus
Luke Chapter 18: Verses 9 - 14
Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.
Acts Chapter 13: Verse 39
Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.Righteousness Through Faith
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished,
he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith.
For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.
Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,
since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.
Romans Chapter 3: Verses 20 - 30
What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter?
If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about,but not before God.
What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.
However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.
David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
"Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
Romans Chapter 4: Verses 1 - 7
For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,
Romans Chapter 8: Verse 3
It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.
Romans Chapter 9: Verse 16
but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it.
Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone."
Romans Chapter 9: Verses 31 - 32
And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
Romans Chapter 11: Verse 6
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
1 Corinthians Chapter 13: Verses 1 - 3
know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.
Galatians Chapter 2: Verse 16
For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.
Galatians Chapter 2: Verse 19
I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"
Galatians Chapter 2: Verse 21
All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law."
Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith."
The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, "The man who does these things will live by them."
Galatians Chapter 3: Verses 10 - 12
Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.
Galatians Chapter 3: Verse 21
But now that you know God,or rather are known by God,how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?
You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!
I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.
Galatians Chapter 4: Verses 9 - 11
Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.
Galatians Chapter 5: Verse 2
You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.
Galatians Chapter 5: Verse 4
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Galatians Chapter 5: Verse 6
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
Galatians Chapter 5: Verse 18
Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.
Galatians Chapter 6: Verse 15
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith,and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God,
Ephesians Chapter 2: Verse 8
For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh,
though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:
circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;
as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ,the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
Philippians Chapter 3: Verses 3 - 9
Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules:
"Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"?
These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.
Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
Colossians Chapter 2: Verses 20 - 23
who has saved us and called us to a holy life,not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,
2 Timothy Chapter 1: Verse 9
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,
he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
Titus Chapter 3: Verses 4 - 5
Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, "So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.' " And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world.
For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: "And on the seventh day God rested from all his work."
And again in the passage above he says, "They shall never enter my rest."
It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience.
Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day.
There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God;
for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.
Hebrews Chapter 4: Verses 3 - 10
Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God,
instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
Hebrews Chapter 6: Verses 1 - 2
Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary.
A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place.
Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place,
which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.
Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.
When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry.
But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.
The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.
This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper.
They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings,external regulations applying until the time of the new order.The Blood of Christ
When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation.
He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.
The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
Hebrews Chapter 9: Verses 1 - 14
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
James Chapter 2: Verses 10 - 11
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