Posted on 09/20/2019 9:01:36 AM PDT by pastorbillrandles
Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” ( John 6:28-29)
Salvation cannot be obtained by our personal merit. Thank God , because there is not one of us who could ever merit salvation. We cannot earn it, nor can we who have received the gift, ever lose it due to lack of merit. The scriptures make it obvious, “By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight…”.
None of us can earn our salvation, nor can we in anywise put God in debt to us, all that He gives is freely given, it is grace. Salvation is Grace, undeserved favor.
If we couldn’t do anything to earn it, neither can we forfeit it by what we do. I do not believe that there is any particular sin that a believer can do which would cost him his salvation.
I cannot emphasize these blessed and simple truths enough, because those of us who set out the case against ‘unconditional assurance’ , (ie Once Saved Always Saved) are always accused of preaching ” good works”, or works based salvation.
Thank God for scriptures like Ephesians 2:8-10,
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. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. ( Ephesians 2:8-10)
There is nothing I could ever do to earn my salvation, nor to lose it, nor to add to it or take away from it, thank God. Therefore there is nothing I can personally boast in, all of the glory for my salvation goes to Jesus, who,“…has Loved us and bought us from our sins with his own blood”.(Revelation 1:5)
Salvation is not unconditional however. There is one, and only one condition, and that is that we must believe. “He that believes…shall have eternal life”. “This is the Work, that you believe on Him whom the Father has sent”.
Over and over again, we are told by the Apostles that we must believe to be saved. All the Father requires is belief, steadfast, loyal faith. He knows we are weak, unsteady, liable to sin, fall and defect, yet all he requires is belief.
Is the requirement to believe, in the bible a “one time” experience, or is belief seen as an ongoing loyalty which sustaines to the very end, (the goal) of Salvation ?
Popular Bible teacher Charles Stanley presents a very common misconception about saving Faith when He assures people,
Even if a believer for all practical purposes becomes an unbeliever, his salvation is not in jeopardy.” (Stanley Charles, Eternal Security- Can You Be sure? Thomas Nelson pg 93)
The Apostles never taught anything like that. Instead they taught believers to “Hold fast the profession of their hope … to the end…”
But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. ( Hebrews 3:6)
The danger to the soul, according to the teaching of Hebrews , is ‘unbelief’. The example from the Old Testament was the incident with the 12 spies. All of Israel heard the gospel of the land flowing with milk and honey. All of them rejoiced, until they came to Kadesh Barnea, where they saw the Giants.
From then on, only two out of that entire whole truly believed! The rest fell short of entering into God’s rest, because they cast aside their confidence, in unbelief.
For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; ( Hebrews 3:14)
What does this say about people now, who once believed passionately in Christ and the gospel, but who no longer “hold fast”? I know people who set out believing in Christ, but who no longer maintain faith. Are they still saved? As we pointed out in the last message, “whoever goes on believing shall be saved…” , not whoever ever believed at one time!
Saving Faith is not mere mental assent to a set of propositions. It is an ongoing commitment of a loyalty to a Revelation from God, much like the vows at a wedding. it is “faithfulness”, a response to what God has done and revealed. Jesus called it “abiding in the vine” in John 15.
Neither Jesus or the Apostles ever held forth anything similar to Charles Stanley’s proposition that one can be saved on a temporary belief, which one eventually defects from. Believers “go on believing” whatever it takes. If that belief calls for self renunciation, so be it. When the belief requires personal repentance, true believers repent. None of those things are “works” they are simply elements of the one and only condition God has set on salvation, Faith.
No. What is required is the new birth from above that changes the heart. The indwelling Holy Spirit sealing us. This is a gift from God to all who believe. Nothing we can do to deserve or merit it. Knowledge does not save, belief does. Thee is a difference
[[It’s called Grace]]
Bingo- Grace is receiving from God something that we do NOT deserve (or earn)
Good post-
[[You become, via Jesus’ propitiation, sinless before God.]]
Unable to sin your way out of salvation because it is Jesus that keeps us- not our works-
So a dog that does this is no longer a dog?
[[I became unsaved again (by Catholic standards) 15 minutes after my confession,]]
Lol- I’m not catholic- but I lose my salvation daily- by ‘works based salvation’ proponent’s standards that is-
In fact the opposite. Romans 11:29: for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. Not much wiggle room there
Amen and Amen
Spot on as usual. Christ explained this concept with His most basic parable—the parable of the sower—upon which an understanding of all of His other parables is based.
Matthew 13:3-9
Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
We know from His explanation, and other passages, precisely what it means:
Seed = word / Gospel of the Kingdom
Field = world (people)
Birds = Devil and his emissaries (deception / misunderstanding)
Stony ground = shallowness (not fully committed, not believing with whole heart)
Sun = trials / persecution
Thorns = cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches
Fruit bearing = Salvation (good ground)
Salvation is not by our good works, but it inevitably (according to predestination) results in a transformed life that produces good works. This can only be accomplished by, and is evidence of, the work of God in our hearts to transform us from sinners into saints.
Only one category of those who hear the Gospel are ultimately saved: those who believe / bear fruit. Saving faith is an enduring and fruitful faith. Those who fall into this last category are those who already presently have eternal life that can never be lost. We still sin and can have resultant doubts about our salvation, because there is a difference between assurance and security.
1 John 3:18-21 (NKJV)
My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.
“before you lose your salvation?”
There is no “losing salvation”. All you can do is demonstrate you never really had faith in the first place:
“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” 1 John 2:19
“I awoke a few nights past, startled out of a sound sleep by this verse: ‘If anyone is unwilling to work, he shall not eat.’ - 2 Thessalonians 3:10”
There is a difference between someone who refuses to work and someone who cannot work.
Apart from Christ a sinner is incapable of doing the works that please God. It is only by faith in Christ that a person can receive a new heart that has the willingness and ability to do those things that are pleasing to God.
You asked, “So I accept Jesus, and then I can Do anything I want.?” and I answered in post 39 of this thread.
I meant to add (but forgot) that MOST sins believers commit are with the full knowledge that they ARE sins.
In other words, every time (maybe most times) that a believer sins it is with the full fore-knowledge that they are going to sin and then do it anyway.
So your question “...do anything I want?” applies to every single one of us, no matter what the sin nor the number of sins.
Still under Grace and still paid for at the cross.
Believers have just accepted that offering/gift and live free from any condemnation for their failures.
Non-believers have refused to accept the free, unqualified gift of undeserved righteousness and the position and blessings that flow from that.
[Sadly, some believers believe that works play a part in their salvation/righteousness and choke off much of the joy and ease that comes with a full understanding and acceptance of what this Grace means.]
A new term that is being used is “hyper-Grace”. I’m not a fan of the term, particularly, although it is accurate and descriptive.
To me Biblical Grace is already “hyper-Grace”; it can’t be anymore complete or powerful than it is. So the term is redundant.
I think it matters.....
thinking that sins don’t matter is why so many evangelicals and Christians elected Billy J. Clinton....
just no....God gave us free will....HE showed us the way, the truth and the light.....the opportunity to be a good person, or a bad person.....
if there are no consequences then there is no need for churches, or priests, pastors,prayers,confession, nor CHARITY.....
and no need for lecturing....
but this "no consequences to sin mantra" is popular, among the sinners....
and our govt seems to be moving in that direction too, especially these leftist states where now what used to be a crime now just is not prosecuted.....kids in school can do any thing and not be punished...for pete's sake don't call the cops, the kid might have a record... NO CONSEQUENCES.
I think God is forgiving, of any sin, which is hard to accept, because we all want fairness in life....
the prodigal son...
but HE FORGIVES....we can't forgive ourselves.
You wrote, “but this “no consequences to sin mantra” is popular, among the sinners....”
I don’t know of anyone who says there are no consequences to sin. I certainly don’t.
The consequences are monstrous, terrible and beyond our ability to grasp.
But Jesus, at the cross, bore all of those consequences, for every sin of ours; past, present and future.
There is nothing we can do on our own to obtain righteousness. It is only by accepting Jesus’ payment of our debt on our behalf.
I’m just saying that when Jesus, on the cross, said “It is finished!”, it was finished.
What is required of us is to accept his completed, complete work.
With a full recognition of our foul nature and complete unholiness and tremendous unworthiness. Once that is done, we move into the state of Grace.
And you’re right that this is popular among the sinners. A group of people in which I must number myself.
Those are the ones that it is for.
I thought that they were all forgiven, past, present, and future. Any other way would mean you believe that good works are necessary.
I do not believe what you say I believe. Sin most definitely does matter, loving and continuing in sin is unbelief.
Romans 5:2 says faith gives access to grace.
If Mr. Charles Stanley is going to falsely proclaim one can be saved without faith, then he must also proclaim one can be saved without grace. For there is NO VERSE that says faithless gives access to grace. Such a verse would only exist in the imagination of Mr. Stanley.
False dilemma, it is not faith or works, it is faith or unbelief...
Double talk! If committing a sin is unbelief, then everyone is doomed!
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