God’s Promise to Isaac
…4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, 5because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
So, let me ask the both of you this: Let’s just say there’s a guy that becomes a born again Christian. Yes, he is saved. But he begins cheating on his wife, he lies to everyone he meets, he wants to try homosexuality and likes it. So he divorces his wife and moves in with then marries his male lover. He can’t get enough of that man sex. His husband cheats on him with troop of male midgets. The guy plans and carries out his husband’s murder.
The guy falls into depression and the only thing that makes him happy is stealing and he’s good at it. Does it day and night. He also loves to drink and becomes a drunkard. Then he begins to extort people to get more money. Throw in bearing false witness. He passes out on the curb and when he wakes up he sees a book about witchcraft. He’s into it and becomes a certified witch. He does everything in 1 Cor 6, Gal 5, Rev 21 and the 10 commandments that God specifically tell us not to do and if we continue to do them and not ask forgiveness and are unrepentant, we will not be in the kingdom of heaven.
One day he meets a man he knew in his church when he was married to his wife. The guy heard what had been going on over the past few years and was concerned for his salvation. Says, “you shouldn’t be doing this stuff and you need to cut it out now” Aren’t you a born again Christian? Guy says he was then and still is and to stay out of his F’ing business.
What do you two think are his chances for salvation if he doesn’t repent? What if it’s just one of these sins that he’s unrepentant of? Does it make a difference?
Can you claim salvation and live a lawless life?
The next tense is present, as in He is transforming my behavior mechanism, my soul of mind, emotions and will as I submit my 'want to' to His direction as He abides in my born again spirit. This is the PROCESS (meaning it takes time) Sanctification. That spirit has been separated out of the soul, the behavior mechanism which knows only how to sin. The difference now is that I am unable to sin without deep regret because I grieve the Holy Spirit within my human spirit. My born again spirit has GOD abiding in my before dead spirit, so that my spirit cannot sin (1 John 3:9), but my dirty old behavior mechanism can and does sin, but I have an advocate, Jesus Christ the Righteous Who cleanses me when I turn to confess to Him.
Think of those two, the Justification and Sanctification, as God slices deep into the soul and separates out a beautiful crystalline space where He then abides with me. Sin splashes mud and filth on the outside of the place but Christ cleanse it off so the glory of GOD's Presence can shine forth again. The third tense is a future, a moment Promised by God when Jesus will descend from the third Heaven to the first Heaven and gather all those in whose spirit God is abiding, and return to The Father's House. That is the Glorification which is getting very close now to happening.
If you insist on hypotheticals, refer to what Paul wrote to the little namd of believers in Caorinth, to put a very sinful man out of their midst for satan to sift until the day of redemption when that man will have everything of his life made into cinders but he himself will be in Heaven as if by fire.
You are completely blind to justification, sanctification and Christ’s COMPLETE work on the Cross for those who believe. Unbelief and mistrust will keep a person continually looking in his rearview mirror for where he’s been than through the windshield, to where he’s going. That’s a sad, desperate life, full of fear and doubt.
While I’ve got you here, let me ask you again to read Eph.2:14 esp. “For he (Christ) is our PEACE (NOT FEAR), who hath MADE OF BOTH (Jew and Gentile) ONE, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us (the Old Covenant’coz AKA the Law);
Having ABOLISHED in His flesh the enmity, WVEN THE LAW OF COMMANDMENTS contained in ordinances; WHY would He do that? Why not just make Gentiles pattern the Jews, with commandments and ordinances??) WHY?
It continues to the most important part: “FOR TO MAKE IN HIMSELF OF TWAIN *ONE NEW MAN”*...
Believing Jews and believing Gentiles are One New Man- The Church the BODY OF CHRIST.
Of course. People claim all sorts of things, but ... :
They strengthened the spirits of the disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying, “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.”And then there’s the things about being forgiven as we forgive and being measured with the same measure we use to measure others ... etc.
Acts 14:22
And the ego is easily played, too. Just ask Satan. I’m sure I’ll be tripping over some of my words and condemned by others from times past.
I’m thinking there ain’t too many saints amongst us gonna be raptured on outta here any time soon. That’s just my humble opinion, of course. Not my will be done, but His ... thank God!
What does it matter what I think about this hypothetical, imaginary guy? I'm not God, I can't see within someone's heart. I can only look at the outward, God sees the inward man. What I can do, however, is examine myself to see if I am in the faith.
Just walking down an aisle during a church service, saying I believe in Jesus as my Savior, even getting baptized and joining a church is not what determines my chances of salvation. It is whether or not these outward acts and professions are from the heart, whether they are from genuine repentance, trust, faith and surrender to God to redeem me. HE alone knows the answer and no one who diligently seeks Him, who searches for Him with all their heart, who fall upon His mercy and grace will be turned away.
Can someone claim salvation and live a lawless, sinful life? Sure, people do that and have done that all the time. But I would seriously question their sincerity. A true born again child of God is indwelt with the Holy Spirit - the earnest of our inheritance - and will discover that sin brings chastisement, discipline and correction (uncomfortable kinds) from a loving Heavenly Father who desires that we live in holiness and not cause shame upon the name of Christ and other Christians. BUT that is far different from insisting we must merit our salvation by our works and outward actions. We are saved by the grace of God through faith and not by works lest any man should boast. If you are trusting in your good works to make you worthy of heaven, you aren't truly trusting in Jesus Christ to save you. You cannot have any assurance of salvation if you are depending on your own merit or sinlessness. But God wants us to KNOW we have eternal life: