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.
“You can’t wither away if you haven’t sprouted to begin with. Likewise, thorns can’t choke something that wasn’t living.”
This is an age-old debate about “losing salvation”. The issue is that there is something can often transpires externally that has the look and feel of Christian faith but does not endure unto salvation. The perfect example of this is Judas. No one but Christ knew he would betray Him. He was even trusted with the money, but he was already a thief (unrepentant).
On the other hand, salvation is itself entirely the work of God. We bring nothing meritorious to the equation when it comes to saving our souls from God’s wrath.
Practically speaking, from a human perspective a person can become a Christian but later “lose salvation”. From God’s perspective, He knows who He has chosen before we were even born, and so those who are truly His (as He sees the heart and knows us better than we know ourselves) none of those who ever belonged to Him will be lost. Thus, when He dismisses the lost to Hell, He will declare “I never knew you.” He does not say that He once knew them but later quit knowing them. To be God’s elect is to not only know God but to be known by Him. And it is impossible for the elect to perish.
“The testimony of Jesus Christ, to those that are members of the seven churches, has this common requirement: he that overcometh.”
True. But who is the one who overcomes?
1 John 5:5
Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Salvation is by faith alone, but this faith is a persevering faith that never remains alone. It is always followed by fruit, good works, and endurance through trials and temptations. When a person believes with his or her whole heart the salvation journey begins. This person is an overcomer.
To all who read this wisdom, selah (pause and consider).
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1John was written to those already born again:
2:7 “Brethern”
2:24 “Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.”
“Overcometh” is a continuance.
“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” Rev. 3:21
Number 39 this thread
#39 this thread
Blessings to you!
“So I accept Jesus, and then I can Do anything I want.?”
Paul would answer your question with a “God forbid” Romans 6...Even though Christians are saved by grace that does not give the Christian a license to sin, no right “to do anything he wants”.
In Romans 6:16 Paul points out we each are serving either ‘sin unto death’ or ‘obedience unto righteousness’. If the Christian quits obeying God’s will he is serving sin unto death.
Since belief is obedience, that means if a Christian quits believing he has then turned from (apostate) from serving obedience unto righteousness to serving sin unto death. Charles Stanley is far from the truth on this matter and what his book says is extremely dangerous, spiritually deadly.
And those that wander in the wilderness, the Holy Spirit is there to guide them back if they are so willing.
Some use the term the Hound of Heaven. Now mind you I am being tongue and cheek.
Psalm 23:6
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.(KJV)
Goodness and Mercy are the names of His sheepdogs.
[[Double talk! If committing a sin is unbelief, then everyone is doomed!]]
Exactly- if it is unbelief, then noone can be saved- because noone would have belief because everyone has sin- This is quite the dilemma
[[that faith is an act of the will, which will begin to manifest in the behavior of the new born. But a new born must be raised up in the way that they should go ...
he is the parent whether you are an obedient child, an unruly child, or a rebellious child.]]
Well put- that’s exactly what it is too- A Great way to explain it! God tells us throughout scriptures that Christ will not lose even one of his children- Even the rebellious ones-
Paul when he talked to Corinthian Christians who were carnal (I think that was the church) didn’t say “Greetings former Christians who have strayed from salvation” Nope- He greeted them as “Fellow Believers IN CHRIST” Even in their backslidden sin living states-
AND the man committing such a heinous sin as living carnally with his father’s wife was dealt with to preserve his soul unto the Bema seat, where his ‘deeds’ would be eradicated as if by fire but his soul would be saved through it.
15If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. 1Cor3:15
[[ where his ‘deeds’ would be eradicated as if by fire but his soul would be saved through it.]]
precisely-
Another verse that gives folks pause is when churches are ordered to send the unrepentant backsliders out into the world to be given over to Satan- They claim this means the person loses their salvation- but this isn’t true- it simply means that the person is handed over to world according to his wishes- He wishes to remain in sin, let it be so- The hope being that He will find out for himself the lure of sin isn’t what he thought it was- and Satan will buffet him constantly- driving him back to the church-, and it revolves around the same premise that even if he remains in the world, He will still be saved ‘as if by fire’
3For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
12What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”
the verses aren’t talking aBOUT LOSING SALVATION- i’LL LOOK INTO IT MORE TOMORROW- woops cps lock- but again- the passage is a difficult one, but we know that the bible talks about the fact that we can not lose salvation- so again- anytime there are difficult verses- they must be interpreted in light of the known- and read in context- The man isn’t a Chrsitian, then commits sin, then gets kicked out or handed over to Satan because he lost his salvation, because we know that every soul that is given to Christ will be saved, none lost- not even one- if that man lost his salvation- then got kicked out, and lived in sin, and died in his sin unsaved- then God’s word is false- Christ obviously has lost that fella- that fella that God gave Him-
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