Posted on 12/29/2006 4:47:11 AM PST by cowboyfan88
Edited on 12/29/2006 8:32:56 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
The assurance of salvation is the most important thing in life. It should be the number one concern of every human being. Sadly, too often it is not.
The good news is, the Bible teaches that you can know for sure that you are going to heaven. I John 5:13 says: "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may KNOW THAT YE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE..." Notice that this verse doesn't say, "that ye may HOPE that you can GET eternal life." It says that you can know that you have it, as a present possession.
How do you get it?
Acts 16:31 says: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved..." Notice again that it doesn't say, "Believe and you will someday be saved." It rather says, "Believe...and BE saved." Of course, the word "saved" makes a lot of people nervous.
A man told me once, "We don't speak in those terms at our church." But that's a shame, because the Bible uses this word over and over again. John Newton used it hundreds of years ago when he wrote that most beloved of all Christian hymns, "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that SAVED a wretch like me." You've probably even sung that song! Well, it was written by a man who was saved, and you can be saved too. Ephesians 2:8,9 says: "For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” “Not of works, lest any man should boast."
Here we see that people are saved "by grace," and "through faith." By God's grace. Through your faith. Faith and believing are the same thing. If you believe something, it means you have faith in it. Notice also the contrast to "works." Works are things that we can DO.
Most people think that they can be saved by the things that they do. If they don't do bad things, if they instead do good things, they think that they will be saved. The problem with this system is that you can never be SURE that you've done enough good things, and avoided enough bad things, to be saved. That's why the people who believe this are generally not sure they are saved. But Romans 4:16 says, "Therefore it is OF FAITH, that it might be BY GRACE, to the end THE PROMISE MIGHT BE SURE..." The only way you can be sure of salvation is by faith. If you had to do as little as lift your finger to be saved, you could never be sure that you had done it right.
But by faith we can believe that the Lord Jesus Christ did it right. We can be sure that He lived a sinless life. He never did anything wrong, He did everything right. A person like that didn't deserve to die. The Bible says that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). But He was no sinner. Why did He have to die? Ah, He died OUR death. He died our death so that we could have His righteousness and be saved. II Corinthians 5:21 says: "For God made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."
Two thousand years ago, God laid all of our sins on Christ as He hung on Calvary. But that doesn't mean that everyone is saved! Two thousand years later, WHEN YOU BELIEVE that Christ paid for all of your sins, God then takes Christ's righteousness and puts it on you, completing the transaction that must be completed for the redemption of your soul.
I like to explain it this way. God says to us in the Bible that Christ paid for all of your sins. The only question is,
Do you BELIEVE God when He says that all of your sins are paid for? Do you TRUST Him when He says that?
If you do, the Bible says that you are SAVED.
If you don't, well, you just have to go on trying to pay for your sins in your own way. By being good. By not being bad. But these are things the Bible says you can't do well enough to be saved. Romans 4:5 says: "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, HIS FAITH is COUNTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS." Titus 3:5 says: "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost."
That big word "regeneration" is just a big word that means to be "born again," as the Lord talked about in John 3. But in both of these verses, you can see that salvation is by faith alone, and has nothing to do with your conduct. Most people think that we are all born GOOD, and on our way to heaven, and that we have to do something REALLY BAD to blow it and go to hell. But the Bible teaches the opposite. The Bible teaches that we are all born bad, and have to get saved by faith to go to heaven. Sometimes when we explain this, people then ask, "Why then should I be good?"
The answer to this question is, we should be good out of gratitude for God for saving us. Earlier I quoted Ephesians 2:8,9 to show that we are saved "by grace" and "through faith." But the NEXT verse in Ephesians 2 tells us where "being good" comes in: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus UNTO good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10).
When we are saved, we are made "new creatures" in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17). But Ephesians 2:10 here says that we were "created in Christ Jesus UNTO good works." That is, we were saved by faith, but we were saved FOR A PURPOSE, for a reason. God saved us and made us new creatures in Christ so that we would THEN do good works.
Most people get the cart before the horse, as the saying goes. Most people think you do good works, then God saves you. The Bible teaches that instead we are saved by believing, then we SHOULD do good works. Right after Titus 3:5 says we are saved "not by works of righteousness," three verses later it says, "...these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful TO MAINTAIN GOOD WORKS. These things are good and profitable unto men."
Do you see it? We are not saved by good works, but after we are saved by faith, we are told we should do good works to please the One who saved us. Romans 6:23 says: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Here there is a contrast drawn between "wages" and a "gift." Wages are something that we EARN. We go to work, and work all week, and the boss pays us. If we want to be polite, we can say "thank you" when he hands us the check, but we don't have to. He OWES us that money, we EARNED it.
But a gift is something altogether different. You can't earn a gift. If you did, it wouldn't be a gift. That's why the verses BEFORE Romans 4:5 says, "Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." You can't earn a gift, you can only receive it. And the way you receive the gift of salvation is by faith, by believing God when He says your sins are paid for. Suppose you were a gambler, and racked up a debt of a million dollars to the Mafia. They threatened to kill you unless you paid up. A wealthy friend learns of your plight and comes to you and says, "Don't worry, I've paid your debt."
Now in this case, you must REALLY BELIEVE that your friend paid your debt. You must really TRUST your friend when he says that. That's why the other word that the Bible uses besides "believe" is "trust." Ephesians 1:12 talks about people... "...who first TRUSTED in Christ "In whom ye also TRUSTED, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise" (Ephesians 1:13).
If you DON'T trust that your friend paid your gambling debt, then you will most likely continue to make payments to your bookie or loan shark. But if you DO trust your friend when he says that your debt has been paid, then you will rest comfortably in that knowledge, knowing that you've been "saved" from an awful fate, and you will be forever grateful to the one who saved you. That's how salvation works too.
In John 5:24, the Lord said: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, HATH EVERLASTING LIFE, and SHALL NOT COME INTO CONDEMNATION, but IS PASSED FROM DEATH UNTO LIFE." Here we see that the Bible teaches that not only are you saved if you believe on the Lord, you already possess eternal life, and it is NOT POSSIBLE for you to ever be condemned for your sins, for you are ALREADY passed "from death unto [eternal] life." Remember, Acts 16:31 says, "believe...and...be saved." It DOESN'T say, "Believe and be good." It doesn't even say, "Believe and be religious." It just says believe and be saved.
If you believe that Christ died to pay for all of your sins, and that you don't have to pay for any of them, the Bible says you are saved. In I Corinthians 15:1-4, the Apostle Paul identifies “the gospel” that he preached to the Corinthians, by which they were “saved”: “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; “And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” You too can be among those who are “saved,” if you will simply put your faith in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 3:25).
To speak of symbolically "eating my body and drinking my blood" would mean the words of Jesus ...
.. Really meant....
"WHOEVER PERSECUTES ME AND ASSAULTS ME WILL HAVE ETERNAL LIFE."
That is so because to symbolically eat somebody's body and drink their blood means Persecute and Assault
Do you think Jesus intended to say that the way to eternal life is to persecute and assault Him? Of course not.
Following are examples from Holy Writ where one, symbolically, eats somebody's body and drinks their blood.
Ps 26:2...Whilst the wicked draw near against me, to eat my flesh
Isaias 9:18-20...or wickedness is kindled as a fire, it shall devour the brier and the thorn: and shall kindle in the thicket of the forest, and it shall be wrapped up in smoke ascending on high. By the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land is troubled, and the people shall be as fuel for the fire: no man shall spare his brother. And he shall turn to the right hand, and shall be hungry: and shall eat on the left hand, and shall not be filled: every one shell eat the flesh of his own arm:
Isaias 49:26...And I will feed thy enemies with their own flesh: and they shall be made drunk with their own blood, as with new wine: and all flesh shall know, that I am the Lord that save thee, and thy Redeemer the Mighty One of Jacob.
Micah 3:2,3...You that hate good, and love evil: that violently pluck off their skins from them, and their flesh from their bones? 3 Who have eaten the flesh of my people, and have flayed their skin from off them: and have broken, and chopped their bones as for the kettle, and as flesh in the midst of the pot.
2 Kings 23:17...Saying: The Lord be merciful to me, that I may not do this: shall I drink the blood of these men that went, and the peril of their lives? therefore he would not drink. These things did these three mighty men.
Rev 17:6,16...And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And I wondered, when I had seen her, with great admiration.
To symbolically eat someone's flesh and blood is to persecute and assault them.
In the Eucharist, Jesus is present, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity
Even Luther got it right about the Eucharist. "of all the early fathers, as many as you can name, not one has ever spoken about the sacraments as these fanatics do. None of them uses such an expressions as "It is simply bread and wine," or "Christ's body and blood are not present." Yet this subject is so frequently discussed by them, it is impossible that they should not at some time have let slip such an expression as "It is simply bread" or "Not that the body of Christ is physically present" or the like; since they are greatly concerned not to mislead the people; actually, they simply proceed to speak as if no one doubted that Christ's body and blood are present. Certainly among so many fathers and so many writings a negative argument should have turned up at least once, as it happens in other articles; but actually they all stand uniformly and consistently on the affirmative side." Luther's Works
*Please reread John Chapter 6. Jesus repeatedly speaks the truth about His real presence in the Euchari
Peter resurrected Tabitha. protestants resurrect heresies :)
maybe it is a spoonerism or litotes
What about Baptism?
It's easy to go through scripture and pick out every verse that says 'call on the Lord and you will be saved.'
Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Baptism. Jesus Himself was baptised. John the Baptist baptised countless people, the Apostles did likewise. Baptism has continued to this very day.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say that the disciples walked around telling people "accept Jesus as your personal saviour" and every thing would be peachy.
77 posted on 12/30/2006 6:32:44 AM MST by Cap'n Crunch
Yah'shua said you must be "born again" from above i.e. by the Ru'ach HaKodesh If we seek to understand water immersion (baptism in the Greek)
Immersion in the mikvah has offered a gateway to purity ever since the creation of man. Before the revelation at Sinai, all Jews were commanded to immerse themselves in preparation for coming face to face with G-d. Immersion in the mikvah has offered a gateway to purity ever since the creation of man In Temple times, the priests as well as each Jew who wished entry into the House of G-d had first to immerse in a mikvah. On Yom Kippur, the holiest of all days, the High Priest was allowed entrance into the Holy of Holies, from chabad.org
Please distinguish between Baptism and being "born again".
b'shem Yah'shua
as practiced by John the Immerser, we need to understand the
Jewish culture of Mikvah at the time of Y'shua. Mikvah
The Midrash relates that after being banished from Eden, Adam sat in a river that flowed from the garden.
This was an integral part of his teshuvah (repentance) process, of his attempt at return to his original perfection.
In the desert, the famed "well of Miriam" served as a mikvah. And Aaron and his sons'
induction into the priesthood was marked by immersion in the mikvah.
the innermost chamber of the Temple, into which no other mortal could enter.
This was the zenith of a day that involved an ascending order of services, each of which was preceded by immersion in the mikvah.
"Is that from the actual historical writings, or the forged ones???"
The Greek ones. Are they exactly what +Ignatius wrote? I haven't a clue. The Fathers certainly thought so. So far as I know, only heretics and pagans deny +Ignatius' Eucharistic theology. I do, however, try to stay away from anything spun in Latin or rewritten in much later Syriac versions.
I was baptised. Jesus instituted Baptism. Baptism is necessary and biblical. The sinner's prayer and being 'saved' is not.
Actually, iscoll has to rely totally upon the Church for every single word of scripture. He has no way of independently verifying that what Scripture is Scripture. But, that is never under consideration...I wonner why ?
I'd say Cap'n gives every indication of being saved. His behavior, such as knowing and trusting Scripture, gives evidence he is indeed saved
Someone once remarked that it's not a miracle that Protestant error spread but that it actually stopped spreading as rapidly. Luther ushered "easy religion," with the rule "pecca fortiter" (sin forth!), assuring his followers to the effect that even if one commits adultery 300 times a day, God will forgive as long as you call on Jesus.
Doesn't get much easier than that!
Amen, brother. Preach it. The Way is wide and easy....
"Actually, iscoll has to rely totally upon the Church for every single word of scripture. He has no way of independently verifying that what Scripture is Scripture. But, that is never under consideration...I wonner why ?"
Well, almost; remember the violence the reformers did to the canon and the "If the KJV was good enough for God its good enough for me" mentality but other than that, ironic, isn't it? Absolutely remarkable how a bunch of Greek speaking bishops got the canon so right, everything else so wrong and then the HS sort of went off for a 1200 year nap until the Protestant Revolution? :)
***Read a little further in Acts 16... like through 33. ''he and his whole household were baptised.'' ***
Yet Paul makes it clear he was not sent to baptize even though he did.
1Cr 1:17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
Also, we have the household of Cornelius.. who received the Holy Spirit before he was baptized.
Act 10:43 To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.
Act 10:44 ¶ While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
Act 10:45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Peter then asks those who came with him if any of them could forbid them being baptized because he had no direction from God in this matter.
So, can an unsaved man have the Holy Spirit of God ?
"Yet Paul makes it clear he was not sent to baptize even though he did."
Here's what Tertullian says on this:
"But they roll back an objection from that apostle himself, in that he said, 'For Christ sent me not to baptize;' as if by this argument baptism were done away! For if so, why did he baptize Gaius, and Crispus, and the house of Stephanas? However, even if Christ had not sent him to baptize, yet He had given other apostles the precept to baptize. But these words were written to the Corinthians in regard of the circumstances of that particular time; seeing that schisms and dissensions were agitated among them, while one attributes everything to Paul, another to Apollos. For which reason the 'peacemaking' apostle, for fear he should seem to claim all gifts for himself, says that he had been sent 'not to baptize, but to preach.' For preaching is the prior thing, baptizing the posterior. Therefore the preaching came first: but I think baptizing withal was lawful to him to whom preaching was."
"So, can an unsaved man have the Holy Spirit of God ?"
This is a trick question, right? It all depends on what your definition of "saved" is. If its the innovative Protestant idea, I wouldn't know, but I tend to doubt it. If its the Eastern or Western theology of The Church you are talking about, the answer is clearly and absolutely yes.
Those who persevere sall be saved. Also saved are those who have a simple faith in Him.. The Greek work PISTIS is translated as faith in some passages, trustworthy in others, also as Bible doctrine in our thinking processes elsewhere.
Demons might comprehend some facets of our Lord and Savior's status, but in their mind, they are not thinking with the mind of Christ. They are not exhibiting a faith in Him the same as Christ had faith in the Father (Rom 3:22-26).
We are saved from condemnation, which we born into from the first Adam, by faith alone in the second Adam, not by any works. Our salvation is purely the work of God. This is the good news. Specifically, God the Holy Spirit in the regeneration of our spirit, where God creates a human spirit life in us.
Once we have that spirit life, we have eternal life.
Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Even after salvation from condemnation to the Lake of Fire, we still have volition. In our volition, our will, we might intend something separate from God, i.e. the very definition of sin.
When we sin, we are not in fellowship with God. That is a completely different issue than having a human spirit and eternal life. When we sin , we do NOT lose our spirit life. Our living after salvation is an entirely different process than when we were originally saved. (Other than both are the works of God through our faith in Christ.) In the regeneration of our spirit, God creates our rebirth, a new spirit life, something not possessed by unbelievers. Sin no longer separates us from that new spirit because God the Son in His humanity, sacrificed His spirit on the Cross. Additionally, Christ only made one sacrifice, not many for multiple occasions of sinning and dieing. Instead, the issue of spiritual death has been settled once and for all on the Cross.
After salvation, we now have a new hope established for us, again through faith in Christ.
After salvation, our challenge is to remain in fellowship with Him first, study the Word from our Pastor-teacher, allowing God the Holy SPirit to bring that Word and make it supernaturally perceived in our spirit.
While remaining in fellowship with Him, God the Holy SPirit makes that LOGOS understood in our mind as an intellectual knowledge or GNOSIS. While remaining in fellowship with Him, God the Holy Spirit then takes that GNOSIS in our mind, the mental part of the soul and transfers to into an ouward knowledge or EPIGNOSIS in our heart, or the outbreathing portion of our soul. Again, while we remain in fellowship with Him, He is able to take the portions of knowledge in our mind and place them in categories for our future rememberance, recall, and application from our hearts.
Our minds and hearts are still scarred from previous wrong-thinking when we sinned in the past. We continually renew our thinking daily, with the 'mind' of Christ, thereby allowing the Holy Spirit to continue to sanctify us, cleanse our thinking, our mind, our hearts, so that we then have the tools available to us to apply when we become doers of the Word.
You are correct to say, "following Him means believing and living that belief through their thoughts, words, and deeds"
After salvation, He continues to sanctify us by our residing in His system of power through the Holy Spirit. It begins be our hearing the LOGOS, remaining in fellowship with Him, thinking that LOGOS in our mind, remaining in fellowship with Him, remaining in faith-rest with Him, allowing God the Holy Spirit to do all the work in our mind and transferring that GNOSIS in our mind to EPIGNOSIS in our heart, agin by our remaining in fellowship with Him. How do we remain in fellowship with Him? By taking on the mind of Christ and thinking theough faith in Him in ALL things.
ALL faith comes from God, including our continueing in faith and new doctrine being filed categorically in our hearts for our use in problem solving throughout life.
In this fashion we are able to always think, walk, and work through faith in Him. There is no need for any alternate morality.
We are in a sense hamsters on the hamster wheel, but the wheel isn't a wheel of life, it is a wheel of fellowship. Unbelievers never get on that wheel because this wheel is outside the cage of condemnation and Christ is the small gate to escape to eternal life. As that wheel turns, God does all the work n us, further sanctifying us or setting us apart to perform good works from His perspective in accordance with His plan.
You lack a certain something. Please find it.
The speed limit is man's law.
A murderer breaks God's law, and indeed one of God's most important laws. Were any of the commandments greater than any other? Jesus said so, "This is the first and greatest commandment." The Jews also had greater penalties for breaking the commmandment "Thou shalt not kill", over that of "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods."
You remove yourself from faith in Christ once you murder, commit adultery, etc., and are unrepentant. If you then die, does God say, "well, he would have repented eventually, so I will hold him close to me in the next life" ?
No.
(Actually, God does know what you would have done, although He does not interfere with free will. That is a Mystery.)
It doesn't matter if a man made law established under legitimate authority of national governance or a Divine law it is still a disobedience of something God has provided man in His plan, therefore qualifies as sin.
If one rejects the speeding error as something which will cause you to 'lose' your salvation, but assert an unconfessed murder will remove 'salvation', then there appears to be a gradation of sin, and an implicit drawing line between salvation and lose of salvation due to the severity of sin.
That type of reasoning is good for nothingness.
One of the fundamental aspects of God is His Perfect Holiness, as displayed on the Arc of the Covenant in the Tabernacle's Holy of Holies. God's Perfect Holiness is comprised of His Perfect Judgment facing His Perfect Rightousness, as displayed by the two cherubs facing each other on the Mercy Seat on the Arc of the Covenant.
God the Father has nothing to do with unrighteousness. Whenever His Perfect Righteousness is faced with any type of unrighteousness, His immutable nature demands Perfect Justice. Likewise, whenever His Perfect Justice encounters any injustice, His immutable nature demands Perfect Righteousness.
It doesn't matter if our sin is slight or enormous regarding God the Father having a relationship with us, it must only occur through the mediation of the High Priest, and the atoning blood of His sacrifice on the Cross. Once provided, and finished forever, there is no other sacrifice for sin.
Once we have even the slightest faith in Him, not added with anything whatsoever, then He is free to exercise His volition and create a new life in us. Once created, we become part of His family. Nothing can remove us from Him, because it isn;t our works that brought us to Him, it was the work of Christ on the Cross that made that possible.
Any implication that man can lose salvation, merely reflects a lack of faith in the sacrificial death of Christ on the Cross to provide salvation.
Man has always tried to find a way to get to heaven on their own. It has always been about God and what he has done but man will have none of it. Instead of having faith in what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us on the cross once and for all, they have to find ways of saving themselves. I don't care if its walking an aisle,being baptized,confessing sins or standing on your head it won't please God. When you believe the cross paid it all, you are covered in Christ's righteousness. Works for salvation is in all churches. The only true church is an invisible body of people who put their faith only in what Jesus did on the cross. Anything else is just trying to please man because it is not pleasing God. Every time you do something thinking it will lead you to salvation, you are saying that the Creator of the Universe, who came down to this evil world as an innocent man to die on a cross for your sins was a horrible mistake and he did it for nothing.
I encourage you to discern between the doctrines of fellowship, salvation, eternal life, eternal security, sanctification.
BTW, the mystery for the Jew was the Mystery Church Age wherein the Holy Spirit indwells the believer. Note that upon salvation, the Holy Spirit indwells us and doesn't depart.
A believer with volition, might indeed decide to turn away from the mind of Christ, perhaps falling back upon some past memories or habits we had in our old sin nature or old man of how we could make order out of chaos (definition of COSMOS or World). In that worldly thinking, we might find a person worthy of being killed and then decide to murder that person. The thought in our soul with volition is also murder. When we add volition to the temptation, then we choose whether to remain in fellowship with Him, or fall out of fellowship and sin. We might turn our mind over to thinking wrongfully, but the Holy Spirit still indwells us.
Christ, when speaking to unbelievers very well communicated to them that murderers, homosexuals, liars, adulterers,etc would not inherit the kingdom of heaven.
It is probably better understood by forst studying each of those doctrines and categorizing them in our thinking in mind and in heart before we slip and confuse fellowship with salvation, or eternal life with the kingdom of heaven.
There are different levels of faith. Our intial faith is what is used by God the Holy Spirit when He regenerates our spirit, when God creates spirit life in the believer.
Any believer who says he never sins after salvation makes God a liar, although through faith in Christ, there is no temptation too great than that which may be resisted.
How about that we agree about something. :-)
Thankfully the gift of GRACE also comes with a counselor who will guide me in my Christian walk.
I Cor. 6:19 "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?"
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