SALVATION

[Clare73]

Nah. salvation is worked out, as we also make our calling and election sure.

We make sure to ourselves of their existence in us by the testimony of obedient hearts, we do not insure their existence in us.

 

[Clare73]

No such comparison is made, that you made, of how one who is dead in sin receives "spiritual" life.

The Promise of God is to make alive those who believe.

Spiritually dead people cannot spiritually believe. . .

 

[fhansen]

A dead man can't even begin to reach toward the life preserver. Does your eternity hinge on your decision, or on God's?

God wants none to perish (1Pet 3:9). And yet some will. And fallen man is also characterized by Scripture as asleep, in need of being awaken, sick, in need of being healed, lost, in need of being found. Those terms aren't used about dead men. The bible uses much metaphor, figurative language-we need to engage the mind rather than letting it get woodenly stuck on one concept or another.

 

[fhansen]

We make sure to ourselves of their existence in us by the testimony of obedient hearts, we do not insure their existence in us.

The main reasonably good guide is good fruit, produced by love. That brings the greatest assurance that we're His.

 

[Clare73]

God wants none to perish (1Pet 3:9). And yet some will. And fallen man is also characterized by Scripture as asleep, in need of being awaken, sick, in need of being healed, lost, in need of being found. Those terms aren't used about dead men. The bible uses much metaphor, figurative language-we need to engage the mind rather than letting it get woodenly stuck on one concept or another.

None of which negate Eph 2:1, 5, Col 2:13.

 

[Clare73]

The main reasonably good guide is good fruit, produced by love. That brings the greatest assurance that we're His.

That is what obedience is--good fruit.

 

[Mark Quayle]

Why can't you get it into your head that God can do whatever He WANTS, alternatively, to your view in this case, to require your permission, however weakly and however aided by grace??? A drowning man cannot simply will himself to be saved: someone else must throw that life preserver. He works in you, without which you cannot move towards Him, but He stops at creating puppets. He's creating something here-and He can do it, to create self-motivated beings made and grown into His image, who've come to know for themselves, with His help, of the absolute injustice, chaos. disorder of any part of creation being apart from Him and outside of His will and the absolute necessity and goodness and righteousness and truthfulness inherent in being with Him. Turning to and remaining with Him, that's why we're here.

Sure, I can get it into my head that God could do that. (In fact, he does require our submission, just as he did Mary's (though it is not stated so), but not in order for him to do what he had determined from the foundation of the world.) But that is not HOW he did regeneration.

Were you a puppet to be born the first time? Hardly. Then why consider him regenerating you to be puppetry, if he did it without your permission or even before you realized he was doing it?

Your God seems to almost reluctantly be throwing a portion of His otherwise worthless, measly, sinful creation into heaven despite themselves and the rest into hell whereas the real God is creating something here, something great, something grand, something noble, something actually better than He began with, something like Himself-and that means and requires freedom, freedom necessarily tailored to our human scale, whatever that may be. He's patiently cultivating us to will rightly, not outright changing us so that we must do so. He could've just done all that in the beginning!!

Seems to me like you are defining freedom according to your notions instead of according to God's point of view. Do you even know what we will be, when we see him as he is? I don't dispute it will be grand and noble and better than when we were born —better even than Adam and Even before their sin. What I don't see is why that would require the sort of independence you espouse by your use of the word, "freedom". That isn't how being IN HIM works.

Don't you already see this? Don't we already experience and learn in this world that integrity is to do the right thing even when no one is looking? That a more noble act for a person to do is the right thing without self-gain, without coercion, without duress, but because they freely choose to-and isn't our moral outrage right and called for when we see someone commit a heinous act against another because we know they could refrain from doing so? Little and large everyday acts of bravery, kindness, self-giving, courage. That's the kind of stuff God wants in you. Faith, hope, love, wisdom, prudence, fortitude, justice: virtues which are all gifts of grace and yet gifts we must desire, as Solomon sought wisdom, and then embrace, and practice, and express, in which case they blossom, and with which we become more like Him. That's what it means to be saved as a result of turning to Him in faith. That turning, that faith, is the first right choice we can make as He draws us to it-and that's why He declares it to be righteous- as opposed to pridefully trying to prove our righteousness apart from Him, by obedience of the law.

Are you telling me that conscience is the purveyor of morality? And that God is working in us to live up to our conscience, and that that is the cause and definition of those virtues and in the end, the purpose of creation? You can't see how much you have added to what the Bible says?

Meanwhile, nothing I have said relinquishes us from the duty and joy of obedience and Christlike growth and fellowship with Him. Nor does anything I have said require automaton-like caused operation according to program, apart from the decision of the will of the person.

You made this up, or copied it from someone who did: "That turning, that faith, is the first right choice we can make as He draws us to it-and that's why He declares it to be righteous- as opposed to pridefully trying to prove our righteousness apart from Him, by obedience of the law." If that isn't sophistry, I'd like to know where it comes from. Lies mixed with truth. Human construction. You even seem to think it positions the Reformed as "pridefully trying to prove our righteousness apart from Him.", since you deny that concerning yourself. Otherwise, the statement is irrelevant to the debate.

 

[Mark Quayle]

God wants none to perish (1Pet 3:9). And yet some will. And fallen man is also characterized by Scripture as asleep, in need of being awaken, sick, in need of being healed, lost, in need of being found. Those terms aren't used about dead men. The bible uses much metaphor, figurative language-we need to engage the mind rather than letting it get woodenly stuck on one concept or another.

If those characterizations are not used about dead men, then why is one of them about dead men? (Read Ephesians 2 again. There it is in black and white.) (While you are at it, read Romans 8 again, to see that the asleep, the sick, the lost, are UNABLE to submit to God's law, nor even to please God, but remain his enemies.

I expect you meant 2 Pet 3:9, but it takes you nowhere, except where you decide to go. It is actually very supportive of predestination, election, and the sure work of God by grace alone. As long as you have been on here and as many times as I have seen this verse used by the Reformed and Calvinists, I would have thought you would not attempt to bulldoze your way through the solid facts with a gel spatula. Repetition doesn't increase veracity.

 

[Mark Quayle]

God created everything good-and sin is not good-it opposes His will by its nature. And yet, yes, His plan included your sinfulness, knowing all that would ever happen in His creation. He values the gift of freedom He's given us so much that He's willing to allow the abuse of that freedom even as it results in evil, for a time, for His purpose. so that we might ultimately learn for ourselves the worthlessness and harmfulness of sin (which begins with the original worthless and harmful act of disobedience: autonomy from Him by the denial of His divine authority) and of the supreme value of love.

And I thought you believed in sanctification. Anyway, no one need assume that sin can be overcome:

"When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life." Rom 6:20-22

"Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live." Rom 8:12-13

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9

"Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God." 1 John 3:7-9

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood." Rev 22:14-15

Like all those who insist on self-determination instead of grace, you base your comments on this life, and not on what God made this life for. We do work, we do obey, we do struggle, we do put to death the 'misdeeds of the body', we do continue to [choose to] live according to God's seed remaining in us, we do what is righteous, we do "wash our robes"; but we do NOT earn the right to the tree of life, which is by the grace of God alone.

 

[Mark Quayle]

No such comparison is made, that you made, of how one who is dead in sin receives "spiritual" life.

I did show you different. Read Ephesians 2 and Romans 8 again.

The Promise of God is to make alive those who believe.

Where have I said otherwise?

Galatians 3:21-22 (WEB) 21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could Make Alive, most certainly righteousness would have been of the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned all things under sin, so that The Promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

The Scriptures plainly state that we are made alive by the Spirit dwelling in us. You know this is true, yet you continue to reject it.

Romans 8:9-10 (WEB) 9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. 10 If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

The Spirit indwells us by faith to give us life welling up inside us. Only by faith.

John 7:38 (WEB) 38 He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive.



You are not going to believe this, but salvation, or eternal life, to make alive, or life, or born again, or regeneration, are all referring to same change from death to life inside of us, which is all by the grace of God to whosoever believes.

Where have I said otherwise?

The promise of the indwelling Spirit, and transformative life by the Spirit IN us, is by faith.

Where have I said otherwise?

John 7:38 (WEB) 38 He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive.



What do you think being born again means?

We are saved by faith in Lord Jesus - that is what it means to be born again, according to Lord Jesus (John 3:9-18). You have to believe first so you can have eternal life inside of you according to Lord Jesus' reply to Nicodemus.

Where have I said otherwise? But can you show me how the dead in sin can believe?

John 3:14 Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness [Numbers 21:8-9], even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Acts 16:31 (WEB) They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.

The Spirit indwells us when we believe to give us life inside.

Where have I said otherwise?

John 7:38 (WEB) 38 He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive.



The Scriptures I just gave are all about how we are made alive spiritually, which is by faith. By faith, the Spirit indwells us to give us life.

Where have I said otherwise?

"HAS PASSED out of death into life" is the imperfect tense, showing the result of what happened after a person believes.

Where have I said otherwise?

John 5:24 (WEB) “Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word and ((believes)) him who sent me has [perfect indicative active - indicating a result of a condition that was met] eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but [Grk: alla: but rather] "has passed" [perfect indicative active - indicating a result of a condition that was met] ((out of death into life))”

When a person hears the word and believes he no longer comes into judgement BUT RATHER he has now passed out of death into life.

For instance, if you were poor, but won a $300 million lottery, you are no longer poor BUT RATHER you have passed out of poverty into wealth.

That does not mean, as you say, that you already passed out of poverty into wealth before winning the lottery.

It would be a Roman Catholic, to compare Salvation to the Lottery!

God's decision is to save those who believe. That is what all the Scriptures state that I listed. You are saved, made alive, Spirit indwelt, born again, raised with Christ, by faith in Lord Jesus. That is The Promise.

That is the Promise of God - to Make Alive those who believe:

Where have I said otherwise?

Galatians 3:21-22 (WEB) 21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could Make Alive, most certainly righteousness would have been of the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned all things under sin, so that The Promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

Spirit indwelling us by faith to give all believers life inside - only in the New Covenant.

John 7:38 (WEB) 38 He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive.



God gives eternal life to those who believe. That is the Good Pleasure of the Council of God:

Where have I said otherwise?

1 Corinthians 1:21 (WEB) For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe.

That is what the Scriptures state. You don't believe that.

Where have I said otherwise?

John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

John 3:14 Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness [Numbers 21:8-9], even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Does your eternal destiny hinge on YOUR decision, or on God's?

 

[setst777]

Spiritually dead people cannot spiritually believe. . .

There is no such Scripture about spiritually believing. Rather we believe, so that we may have life. That is what the Scriptures repeatedly teach.

 

[setst777]

I did show you different. Read Ephesians 2 and Romans 8 again.

Where have I said otherwise?

Where have I said otherwise?

Where have I said otherwise?

Where have I said otherwise? But can you show me how the dead in sin can believe?

Where have I said otherwise?

Where have I said otherwise?

Where have I said otherwise?

You keep saying, "Where have I said otherwise?"

Here is just one recent example of where you said otherwise:

Mark Quayle said: You have it backwards, concerning faith. Faith does not invoke the Spirit's indwelling. Faith is the direct result of the Spirit's indwelling. This is no man-ginned-up force of will. This is the work of God. Only God has this power in himself.

Here are examples from you that show you believe that God has to make us alive first so we can believe:

Mark Quayle said: God takes the dead, and makes them alive, without consulting them or asking their permission.

Mark Quayle said: The Bible does say (Romans 8) that the natural man is unable to please God. It also says (Ephesians 2) that we were dead but God made us alive. It does not mention any activity by man that accomplishes this —on the contrary, it denies it.

Mark Quayle said:
Ephesians 2:1 (dead) and Ephesians 2:1-10 (GOD made us alive, WE did not)

The Scriptures I quoted show that we are made alive by the indwelling Spirit by faith.

The Promise of God to Make Alive is by faith, and is by the Spirit indwelling us by faith

Galatians 3:21-22 (WEB) 21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could Make Alive, most certainly righteousness would have been of the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned all things under sin, so that The Promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

The Spirit dwelling IN us gives life inside us (Romans 8:9-10), and this is all by faith.

John 7:38 (WEB) 38 He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive.

Revelation 22:13 (WEB) 17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” He who hears, let him say, “Come!” He who is thirsty, let him come. He who desires, let him take the water of life freely.

The Scriptures plainly teach that Sinners have crossed over from death to life by faith:

John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives [living on earth], believing in me, will never die. Do you believe this?”

John 20:30-31 (WEB) 30 Therefore Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

Yet, you say that the dead cannot believe unless God gives them spiritual life first, and the Spirit indwells us to give us faith and spiritual life.

Mark Quayle said: You have it backwards, concerning faith. Faith does not invoke the Spirit's indwelling. Faith is the direct result of the Spirit's indwelling. This is no man-ginned-up force of will. This is the work of God. Only God has this power in himself.

Mark Quayle said:
A dead man can't even begin to reach toward the life preserver. Does your eternity hinge on your decision, or on God's?
View attachment 354736

Mark Quayle said: God takes the dead, and makes them alive, without consulting them or asking their permission.

All the Passages I quoted show that God gives a sinner spiritual life, and the Spirit indwells us, because he does believe.

And the Scriptures say the Spirit indwells us to give spiritual life by faith (John 7:37-39).

The gift of life by God's Spirit, and Spiritual Life is given to those who believe, not so they can believe.

You say you agree; in that, you have not said otherwise. Great. But then you turn right around and deny it in your messages. So, either you straight out lying, or you have a split-personality, where once side of you does not know what the other side is doing.

Mark Quayle said: You have it backwards, concerning faith. Faith does not invoke the Spirit's indwelling. Faith is the direct result of the Spirit's indwelling. This is no man-ginned-up force of will. This is the work of God. Only God has this power in himself.

What you state above is the EXACT OPPOSITE of what the Scriptures teach us, as I have quoted.

Mark Quayle said: God takes the dead, and makes them alive, without consulting them or asking their permission.

You say that the dead cannot believe unless God gives them life first, and the Spirit indwells us so we can have spiritual life and believe - the exact opposite of the Scriptures you say that you have not said otherwise.

Mark Quayle said:
A dead man can't even begin to reach toward the life preserver. Does your eternity hinge on your decision, or on God's?
View attachment 354736

And since Clare73 agrees with you, she is no better off than you. You both destroy your own positions.

Actually Clare73 is worse off than you because she is not shy in actually stating that all those Passages that teach, 'by believing we have eternal life' actually mean that we have to have eternal life first so we can believe. Isn't that a doozy!

Clare73 said:
No, whoever believes in him (by the new birth) does not perish because he already had eternal life from which came his faith.

Clare73 said:
Whosoever is driving a car (eternal life) has access to a car - either he has current access (eternal life) by ownership, or he acquired current access (eternal life) before he drove it.

Therefore, you are agreeing to disagree with your own position. And since Clare73 agrees with you, she is no better off than you. You both destroy your own positions.

It would be a Roman Catholic, to compare Salvation to the Lottery!

The example given was to show that you are in error regarding the word "but" and the imperfect tense ""has passed" [perfect indicative active - indicating a result of a condition that was met] ((out of death into life))”

"HAS PASSED out of death into life" is the imperfect tense, indicative, showing the result of what happened after a person believes.

John 5:24 (WEB) “Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word and ((believes)) him who sent me has [perfect indicative active - indicating a result of a condition that was met] eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but [Grk: alla: but rather] "has passed" [perfect indicative active - indicating a result of a condition that was met] ((out of death into life))”

When a person hears the word and believes he no longer comes into judgement BUT RATHER he has now passed out of death into life.

For instance, if you were poor, but won a $300 million lottery, you are no longer poor BUT RATHER you have passed out of poverty into wealth.

That does not mean, as you say, that you already passed out of poverty into wealth before winning the lottery.

And since Clare73 agrees with you, she is no better off than you. You both destroy your own positions.

Actually Clare73 is worse off than you because she teaches that all those Passages that state, 'by believing we have eternal life' actually mean that we have to have eternal life first so we can believe. Isn't that a doozy!

Clare73 said:
No, whoever believes in him (by the new birth) does not perish because he already had eternal life from which came his faith.

Clare73 said:
Whosoever is driving a car (eternal life) has access to a car - either he has current access (eternal life) by ownership, or he acquired current access (eternal life) before he drove it.

Where have I said otherwise?

Where have I said otherwise?

Where have I said otherwise?

Does your eternal destiny hinge on YOUR decision, or on God's?

You keep saying, "Where have I said otherwise?"

Yet, you say that the dead cannot believe unless God gives them spiritual life first by the indwelling Spirit before we can believe.

Mark Quayle said: You have it backwards, concerning faith. Faith does not invoke the Spirit's indwelling. Faith is the direct result of the Spirit's indwelling. This is no man-ginned-up force of will. This is the work of God. Only God has this power in himself.

Mark Quayle said: God takes the dead, and makes them alive, without consulting them or asking their permission.

A dead man can't even begin to reach toward the life preserver. Does your eternity hinge on your decision, or on God's?
View attachment 354736

The Scriptures I quoted, which you say you now agree with, say that we receive Spiritual Life from God by the Spirit because we believe.

And the Scriptures say the Spirit indwells us to give spiritual life by faith (John 7:37-39).

You say 'I have not said otherwise,' meaning you agree that you are given Life by believing - Great. But then you turn right around and deny it in your messages, saying a dead man can't believe unless first given Life.

We reach toward the life preserver by faith, just as God planned, so that we may have life.

We feed on Christ and drink of him so we may have spiritual life. We do not feed/drink on Christ because we already have life.

John 6:56 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I in him.

John 6:51 I am the living bread which came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. Yes, the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.

And since Clare73 agrees with you, she is no better off than you. You both destroy your own positions.

Actually Clare73 is worse off than you because she teaches that all those Passages that state, 'by believing we have eternal life' actually mean that we have to have eternal life first so we can believe. Isn't that a doozy!

Revelation 22:13 (WEB) 17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” He who hears, let him say, “Come!” He who is thirsty, let him come. He who desires, let him take the water of life freely.

 

[fhansen]

None of which negate Eph 2:1, 5, Col 2:13.

Neither of which negates Mark 2:17 or Luke 19:10. It's metaphor. The point being that man cannot raise himself, or heal himself, or find himself, none of which means he cannot refuse to be raised, refuse to be healed, refuse to be be found.

 

[fhansen]

If those characterizations are not used about dead men, then why is one of them about dead men? (Read Ephesians 2 again. There it is in black and white.) (While you are at it, read Romans 8 again, to see that the asleep, the sick, the lost, are UNABLE to submit to God's law, nor even to please God, but remain his enemies.

Yes, and they can remain that way if they prefer. Or they can return to their vomit (2 Pet 2:22), to their death, to their sleep, to their sickness, their lost condition-they can turn out to be rocky soil. No one, including yourself, can predict their own perseverance.

 

[fhansen]

Like all those who insist on self-determination instead of grace, you base your comments on this life, and not on what God made this life for. We do work, we do obey, we do struggle, we do put to death the 'misdeeds of the body', we do continue to [choose to] live according to God's seed remaining in us, we do what is righteous, we do "wash our robes"; but we do NOT earn the right to the tree of life, which is by the grace of God alone.

With God's help we sure as heck do, It's all His work in us and yet we can refuse to work, to obey, to struggle, to put to death the 'misdeeds of the body', to continue to [choose to] live according according to God's seed remaining in us, to do what is righteous, to "wash our robes". We can 'bury our talents'.

 

[fhansen]

I expect you meant 2 Pet 3:9, but it takes you nowhere, except where you decide to go. It is actually very supportive of predestination, election, and the sure work of God by grace alone. As long as you have been on here and as many times as I have seen this verse used by the Reformed and Calvinists, I would have thought you would not attempt to bulldoze your way through the solid facts with a gel spatula. Repetition doesn't increase veracity.

Oh, it's not me doing the bulldozing; it's them. I simply accept the verse as stated, which, BTW , "happens" to be consistent with the nature of God. "God so loves the world...", etc.

 

[fhansen]

What I don't see is why that would require the sort of independence you espouse by your use of the word, "freedom". That isn't how being IN HIM works.

If you don't yet understand that that love, in order to even be love, is necessarily a choice, then this conversation has no where to go. It's primarily that love, both a gift and a choice, that marks the transformation into His image and that defines the holiness we must have to realize eternal life, to see Him. God is all about drawing us deeper and deeper into His love., and that does not and cannot happen by simply flipping a switch and changing me into a wholly different person,. It's no longer even you if you have no choice in the matter. Someone else is being saved.

 

[ladodgers6]

Since you are a Semi-Pelagian, please by all means explain how a sinner is saved?

 

[setst777]

Since you are a Semi-Pelagian, please by all means explain how a sinner is saved?

To all who want to be saved. . .

Do you want to rest in the hope of entering His Kingdom of Light, and experience real life and true purpose now? To receive Christ, and be included in “The Promise,” you need to do four things:

1. ADMIT your spiritual need. “I am a sinner.”

2. REPENT - a change of mind and purpose that leads to firm decision to turn from serving sin to serving God.

3. BELIEVE that Jesus Christ died for you on the cross and rose again the 3rd day.

4. RECEIVE, through prayer, Jesus Christ into your heart and life as your only Lord whom you confess and commit to follow into a sanctified life for righteousness and love, with the help of His Holy Spirit

Do This, and the Spirit will indwell you to be your helper, and seal you as God’s possession (Acts 5:32; Ephesians 1:13-14) and to make you spiritually alive inside (John 7:37-39).

John 7:37 (WEB) “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!”

You are to “drink” of the Spirit (John 7:38) by faith in Lord Jesus (John 7:38-39).

Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in.”

Revelation 22:17 (WEB) 17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” He who hears, let him say, “Come!” He who is thirsty, let him come. He who desires, let him take the water of life freely.

The Spirit indwells only those who believe, as the Gospel defines that faith, and as outline above, to give them life (regeneration) – this Promise is for all who are heavy laden, crushed in spirit, and who hunger and thirst after righteousness. The Promised Spirit began on Pentecost after Lord Jesus was glorified, just as the Scripture did prophecy.

Matthew 5:6 (WEB) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

John 7:37 Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! 38 The one believing in me, as {{{the Scriptures teach}}}, from within him will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn’t yet glorified.

Romans 10:13 “Whoever calls [with a repentant faith] upon the name of the Lord will be saved”

What to Pray:

What you pray must be from your heart. The words you say are not magic; rather, God sees your heart as you pray. God even knows your prayers and thoughts before they enter your mind. Pray like this:

Lord Jesus, I believe that you are the only-begotten Son of God, the Word made flesh (John 1:1-18; Philippians 2:6-11), by whom all things were created and are sustained (John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:2-3, 10), and by whom is salvation (John 3:16; Acts 4:12), and the judgement of all things (John 5:27).

I believe that you were crucified for all sins, including mine. And I believe you rose again the third day to redeem and save whoever will repent to God and believe in you as their rightful Lord and Savior.

Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, a prisoner of eternal darkness. I now repent and I plead Your forgiveness. I believe that You died for my sins. I commit to turn from following sinful desires and to follow You as my only Lord into a sanctified life of righteousness and love with your help Lord Jesus.

I now invite You to come into my heart and life by the Holy Spirit to be my councilor and guide, my teacher and friend, and my Savior and Lord. I confess you as my only Lord whom I follow. I give my whole life to you, and I will live the rest of my life for You. Help me, Lord Jesus. Amen

Thank Lord Jesus for saving you, and for his mercy, grace, and love for you and all sinners. Be a willing vessel of God's love to others, by sharing the Gospel to with others. Good Gospel tracts are helpful.

And always be alert, being careful not to fall away into the things of this world, so that, you will be able to stand with him.

Luke 21:34-36 (WEB) 34 “So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you suddenly. 35 For it will come like a snare on all those who dwell on the surface of all the earth. 36 Therefore be watchful all the time, praying that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will happen, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

 

[fhansen]

Since you are a Semi-Pelagian, please by all means explain how a sinner is saved?

You apparently don't know what the term means so find that out first. And if you want to find out how to be saved go back and read my posts. But, again, I can point you to the foundations of true Catholic doctrine-if truth matters. Otherwise this is a waste of our time.