How do we know?
Because in a verse above verse 20, in the latter half, it says, "that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." What is the condition for forgiveness of sins and inheritance? Faith in Christ. So in the following verses, when it speaks of turning to God, what is it referring to? Faith in Christ. Are works then something that must follow after this? Well, no. How do we know? Acts of the Apostles 26:20b: "that they SHOULD repent and turn to God, AND do works meet for repentance." We know that this is what they should do, but what MUST one do to be saved? Acts of the Apostles 16:30-31, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."
Of course the inheritance is among them which are
sanctified through faith in Christ.
Use of lingual articles and auxiliary verbs are key my friend.
Actually, the men talked about in this verse did wonderful works. We know this by the passage in verse 22. Matthew 7:21-23 "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven (Keep in mind that this is the reason for justification AND condemnation whether a person does the will of God to be justified, or doesn't do the will of God respectively). Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."
But they were condemned despite doing wonderful works, because they did not the will of the Father, which was to know Jesus.
John 6:40 "And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day."
So what's the will of the Father? To believe on the Son.
The will of God is also your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication (1 Thessalonians 4:2-8). And it is also that you should give thanks to God in every thing (1 Thessalonians 5:18). And there are many other things as well that might be counted as the will of the Father. For example, in context of Matthew 7:21-23, abstaining from iniquity might be considered to be the will of the Father.
Philippians 3:9-10 "And be found in him (in Christ), not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;"
So how do we come to know Christ? By faith, by believing on him, which is obeying the will of the Father in John 6:40. Those men in Matthew 7:21-23 didn't believe on him, nor have faith - in fact, these are the people that tried to do the impossible task John the Baptist set forth for them to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance of God's wrath, but they couldn't, because no man can be justified by works (Titus 3:5). They didn't have the righteousness of Christ.
Yes, in Titus 3:4-7 we find that it is by His mercy that He has saved us, through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. This indicates a change of heart and life, such as what is spoken of in Ezekiel 36:25-27 and 2 Corinthians 5:17.
And the righteousness of God by faith is attested to by the law and the prophets that it is righteousness indeed (Romans 3:21).
Again, this is the description of those who do works to be saved - all our righteousness' are as filthy rags before God (Isaiah 64:6), and if we do works but do not have Christ, our works are but filth toward God because we do not have Christ's righteousness, even if they are the wonderful works of Matthew 7:22.
All our righteousnesses that we perform in order to be saved are filthy rags; however the righteousness that is by faith that is done as the result of being saved (1 Thessalonians 1:3) is fine linen (Revelation 19:8).
The wicked are simply those that aren't saved, who do not believe, neither know Christ - like those workers of wonderful iniquity, who did not have the seal of God - they all will likewise perish.. why? Because they did not repent and believe on Christ like he said to do in Luke 13:5.
wonderful iniquity? Where is your mind? To repent means to turn away from sinful behaviour patterns.
This is simply a promise that God will provide his salvation to us when he comes to those who are saved, which actually backs up once saved, always saved.
Actually, 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 is a promise of God that He will sanctify you wholly if you believe the promise; which means that you have no excuse for living an unsanctified life.
Jesus Christ is our righteousness.
Amen; however this does not mean that our righteousness is impractical (see Galatians 2:20, Matthew 5:6, Romans 5:19, 1 John 3:7)
So, are you saying the Bible contradicts itself in 1 John 1:8 and 1 John 1:10, or Proverbs 20:9, or Ecclesiastes 7:20? Cause I say it doesn't.
No; I am saying that 1 John 3:8-9 trumps those verses because half of them were given before Jesus died on the Cross. And the ones that were given after have explanations. 1 John 1:8 refers to present tense indwelling sin not the committing of sins. And 1 John 1:10 refers to the committing of sins in the past.
We must compare scripture with scripture, friend. How are we without sin if we're saved, but still in sin while saved? Well, this must be talking about the unforgivable sin, which is that which cannot be saved - the reason why is because it says he cannot commit sin, because he is born of God. Paul still sinned after he was saved after all, so we know this can't mean what you think it means.
We are not without sin if we're saved. We have indwelling sin. But it is rendered dead (Romans 7:8, Romans 6:6-7, Galatians 5:24) so that it has no authority over our behaviour any longer. And if you are referring to Romans 7:14-25 to say that Paul sinned after he was saved, you must consider that Paul was using the literary tactic of
identification in that scripture, saying that he was "carnal, sold under sin," when he was in fact a holy vessel. He became as weak so that he might gain the weak (1 Corinthians 9:22); and Peter also spoke of this passage as being hard to understand and something that the unlearned and unstable might wrest as they did also with the other scriptures (2 Peter 3:15-17).
John 16:8-9 "And when he is come (the Spirit), he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement: Of sin, because they believe not on me;" So what's the sin being corrected here? The sin of unbelief, and that's the only sin indicated that is corrected. Why? Because all other sin is known through the law of God, which we are not justified by (Romans 3:20).
Actually the Holy Spirit convicts the unbelieving of every sin that the unbelieving commit. The point is that those who reject faith cannot be sanctified and therefore they are living unholy lives; and the Holy Spirit convicts them of their unholy behaviour first and foremost. If they choose to have unbelief, he does not convict them of unbelief, he lets them have their choice.
Also, unbelief and committing sins are very closely related in Hebrews 3:17-19.
The unforgivable sin is the sin of blasphemy of the Spirit, which is unbelief of it's witness of Christ. When we don't believe, we blaspheme the Spirit by calling God a liar (1 John 5:10).
And if someone committed that, the Holy Spirit would not convict them of it because it is the unpardonable sin, and the purpose of conviction is to bring a man to Christ so that he can be forgiven (pardoned).
Therefore, the unforgivable sin is not committable unto those that are saved. Why? Because once you believe, you are born of God (1 John 5:1), making you sealed with the Ghost (Ephesians 1:13), reproved of the sin of unbelief (John 16:8-9), and forever quickened by the Spirit (Ephesians 2:1, Romans 8:10-11) as a son of God (John 1:12); even though we still serve the law of sin in our members, we serve the law of God in our mind, soul, and spirit (Romans 7:25).
I will think about this teaching.
We already discussed how we come to know Christ and that the will of God is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
I hope I helped, brother.
The way to come to know Christ is to repent and put your faith in Jesus Christ and His shed blood so that you can be delivered from the power of sin (Hebrews 13:12, Hebrews 10:29, 1 John 1:7). Not just its penalty, but its power (see Matthew 1:21, John 8:31-36, Romans 6:14-23).