Posted on 08/11/2020 7:12:36 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Psalm is about mercy. Your answer is inadequate and it shows that your thinking process is probably inadequate.
God bless you.
Christ said that unless we become like the child he held we could not see the Kingdom.
This brings up the question what is it about young children?
I will submit to you that the feature is that they trust their parents.
If you go back to the fall itself many have asked what was it that our parents could have had to resist the temptation ... but what about trust? They’d known the Lord their whole lives and the temptation in its very essence was to trust the serpent rather than trust the Father.
Where am I taking this?
Well, I’m not taking it in the easy peasy direction that trusting in your works is not trusting in the promise given but rather towards your query: how can I know I’m saved.
Many aspects of the doctrine of grace and substitutionary atonement can seem dodgy to folks, which is one reason why things like doctrines of salvation by works have found purchase time and again. It isn’t a dodge to say the Gospel can be a stumbling block because Scripture itself says it is an offense.
TrustIng like a child seems to be a key.
On one level the Lord has put the proverbial cookies on a low shelf so that those of limited ability can grasp them (that too is something offensive to the great and the good as the world counts such things ... or as I sometimes say if the Lord had waned to save thre great and the good all He would have had to do was give them a different gospel, one that only the great and the good could understand, and then they’d have flooded into the kingdom whilst patting themselves on the back because they are so clever); yet, there are certainly deep, hard things wrapped up in it.
Do I here say His ways are not ours?
No. because that too is not the answer I’m after.
To all the ways men might say that they don’t understand, that it doesn’t add up, the Lord can respond that His Son has dealt with it and we have His word on it ... essentially “do you trust me?” He can always ask.
His children will trust Him.
The tares sown in the world just will not.
The accomplishment of the former is being born, not something any newborn has right to crow about and that does not change.
Again, I wrote the saved can have works resulting in reward because they are saved. The unsaved have no works no matter how hard they work, period.
How do I know I’m saved?
I cannot tell you about my experiences because unlike the Scriptures those are not independently inspectable by you (that is the fundamental flaw in any appeal to personal experiences).
Can I give you a sign? Over the Internet? Please....
But I can say I’m saved because of His promise offered on His terms. I didn’t do it. He does it. He keeps me as Scripture says. And I trust Him to keep His word.
My works, such as they are, are even things He gives me to do.
If I’ve come up short in this post in your eyes that’s okay, because as the old joke points out there is a difference between being sent and just being went.
And yet “Faith without works is dead” ... if the survey means anything it means the “church” needs to be introspective. There’s been incredible corruption across the spectrum from ministers enriching themselves to grave acts of hypocrisy to predatory acts.
James tells us I will show you my faith by my works - NOT we get saved by works. James is saying his faith was already his possession before he did any works.
People concentrate on what they ‘do’ because they do not understand what Jesus did. Instead of turning to God’s grace that is easily assessable they turn to their own abilities, they trust in man, themselves.
If you are not saved (by the gospel) then you have no knowledge of the gospel, for the power of the gospel saves all immediately who submit to it and confess Christ’s death for their sins and resurrected for their justification. We are to embrace the gospel as if there is no other way, (because there isn’t), it is our survival.
James chapter 2. All of it.
No it doesn’t. Read the catechism instead of listening to pastor Bob. You’re 100% wrong.
Only by accepting that Jesus Christ died for you and paid the price for your sins and accepting his Grace will anyone get to Heaven.
Read John 14:6
You state.......” If you are honest about God you know that he will take the kind and helpful over the mean and nasty no matter what they believe.”
That is a lie. It always and forever will ‘matter’ what you believe.
While I'm not Lutheran myself, I really came to more fully understand this while reading True Christianity by Johann Arndt (available as a free download from Project Gutenberg at the link). If you've got some time, and don't mind reading slightly archaic English, it's a worthwhile read.
So in other words the thief got an indulgence.
Let the hate posts begin!
There is a reason the scripture says, “The Lord is my Salvation.”
Do you have assurance of salvation or do you think such assurance is a sin of presumption?
Works based Salvation always fosters ‘Pride’...one of the hardest sins to overcome and which is a ‘stronghold’ on the heart and mind. I think often it’s difficult for those who depend on what ‘they do’ to look at the cross....for in doing so they will clearly see their own sin put Jesus there.
"And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment." 1 John 3:23
Belief in Jesus is the key to one’s salvation, to my thinking and understanding of scripture. One shows their faith through good works.
Even the Cananite woman showed her belief in Jesus asking for Him to exorcise her daughter in her statement “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”
23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.
26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
Then why did Jesus die on the cross?
What did Jesus say?
"So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.” Luke 17:10
In this passage it says, "someone will say, . . " The context of this passage is justification before man, not God. Romans speaks of justification before God.
You can repeat it all you want, but as this thread proves, even half your fellow protestants don't buy that anymore. Including many "evangelicals". Interesting you don't see the reverse -- lifelong Catholics accepting "Christ alone will save you without you doing ANY good works" theology.
'I can do nothing but evil acts my whole life, but that's OK as long as I declare that I "accept Jesus", and then I get an instant ticket to heaven' doesn't hold water.
And the GOOD Thief probably realized that, too.
IMO, its the opposite. Mother Terera believed in Works based Salvation, and she was extremely meek and humble.
Christ Alone based Salvation always fosters 'Pride'. That's why you always see followers of it arrogantly proclaim they KNOW they are "Saved" and guaranteed a spot in heaven no matter what.
I would never presume to tell people that. God alone will make that decision AFTER I die, and not before. It's not place to determine if I am "saved". That's entirely up to God.
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