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Is discipleship a requirement for being saved?

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RobertZ

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Anyone can help with this question? im a bit confused about the topic of discipleship and was wondering if your not genuinely saved unless you are a disciple of Jesus Christ?

I feel like in the past I have tried to be a disciple but its only lead me down a path of misery as the harder I try the more sin I see in and of myself and then I find myself just throwing up my hands almost ready to give up at times.

When Jesus says that unless we forsake everything for him we cannot be his disciple! this is terrifying to me because how am i supposed to forsake everything!???
 

Brother Chris

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Robert, Jesus isn't adding works to salvation. When a sinner repents and believes and trusts in Christ for salvation, that person becomes a disciple of Christ. God changes his heart so that he will want to read the bible and obey it. Being saved is equal to being a disciple of Christ. Jesus doesn't mean that you have to sell your house, leave your family, etc..to stay saved. What he means is that whatever is stopping a person from coming to Christ, whether it's sin, worldly pleasures, money, pride, self-righteousness, family, friends, etc, the sinner must be willing to give all of this up to be saved. He's not saying to sell your house, leave your family, quit your job after you get saved. Many people would like to be saved but they've got plans they want to fulfill. They have family or friends who would leave them if they became a Christian. They love their sin and the world and don't want to give that up. Again, Jesus isn't adding works to salvation. He is describing what the repentant sinner is willing to do to be saved. This is why Hell has to be preached, so that the sinner will be willing to give up whatever it is to be saved. I know, that's how I got saved.
 
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RobertZ

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So whatever is keeping you from coming to Christ must be dealt with and thrown away. How do I reconcile salvation being a free gift then when something must be given up in your life before you can be saved?

Sorry, I know im asking more crazy difficult questions.
 
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Brother Chris

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Also, Robert, do not expect a perfect repentance. you are not going to have a full puritan experience. You are aware of the sin in your life and you want to be delivered from it. That's why Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled." If you enjoyed your sin and the world like and unbeliever, then yes, I would question your profession of faith. God has given you everything you need for holiness and righteousness. Pray, read the word, keep praying and keep reading and obey it. You will see the fruit, not perfection, but the fruit.
 
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Brother Chris

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Salvation is a free gift from God. It can not be earned or worked for. But you can't reach out and recieve that free gift if you've got something in your hands. If you're holding on to rocks in your hands and someone passes you a glass ball, you drop the rocks in your hand and catch the glass ball. It's the same with salvation. Drop what's in your hands and cling to Christ alone to be saved.
 
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heymikey80

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RobertZ said:
Anyone can help with this question? im a bit confused about the topic of discipleship and was wondering if your not genuinely saved unless you are a disciple of Jesus Christ?
Click to expand...
Being a follower of Jesus? Well, yes.
RobertZ said:
I feel like in the past I have tried to be a disciple but its only lead me down a path of misery as the harder I try the more sin I see in and of myself and then I find myself just throwing up my hands almost ready to give up at times.
Click to expand...
Didja get the memo that trying to satisfy God's morality by doing it is always going to result in despair in a corrupt creation? Y'know -- Romans 1-3.
RobertZ said:
When Jesus says that unless we forsake everything for him we cannot be his disciple! this is terrifying to me because how am i supposed to forsake everything!???
Click to expand...
You're gonna die, aren't you? Do you think you'll be able to hang onto anything at that point? What?

Christian, what is your only comfort in life and in death?
 
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Niemander

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I think Jesus said it best in Matthew 28:18-20 - where He said "Go... make disciples... teaching them to observe all that I commanded you..."

A disciple of Christ is merely a Christian (first) learning the "discipline" of being His follower. In other words, learning how to follow Him, how to behave, how to live as Christians.

Salvation is a pre-requisite to discipleship, not vice-versa.

The notion of "forsaking everything" to be His disciple is one of attitude, of heart.

It was Christ's attitude, "who, though He existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant and being made in the likeness of men..." (Phil 2:6f).

Paul's letters to the churches were essentially letters of discipleship - letters urging them to grow, to learn how to live as Christians.

Paul's attitude in Philippians 3:7ff probably best describes the attitudes we all ought to aspire to as Christians w/r to discipleship: "7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith..."

There's the attitude and heart we need to meet Jesus' expectations of forsaking everything for Him - and the reason for doing so - the surpassing value of knowing Christ.
 
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Shulamite

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HI Robert,

An unsaved person does not "examine his/her heart to see whether they are in the faith" 2 Corinthians 13:5

An unsaved person will have no desire to come to Jesus or come to the light "to have his/her deeds exposed."

We also need to remember that we are engaged in spiritual battle. We wage war against spiritual forces and the enemy of our souls will throw the "condemnation" lie at us to try to make us immobilized with fear so that we are not effective for the Lord at all. In earthly warfare, a commander of an army will first see where his enemy's weakness lies. He will tlhen mount an attack against his enemy based on his enemy's weakness and strike. satan knows where to hit us sometimes. I have dealt with this attack of satan and I understand what you are dealing with.

Also, sometimes doubt of your salvation can be used by God to show you that you have indeed been saved. I have yet to meet an unbeliever who is worried over eternal things, their salvation or hell. They don't lose sleep over it, they don't panic over it, they live their lives and "feel" they are "fine".

Believe me when I say that I have been there. I'm trying to encourage you with the encouragement the Lord has given me personally to not only show me this lie is from satan, but how to combat it. It's warfare and our enemy knows how to strike and where we are weakest.

Think of this: satan can only lie. He cannot speak truth. He can only attack the truth. satan will not TORMENT one of his own children! If he did, he'd be speaking the truth to them and they would repent! It would be counter productive for satan. he leaves his own alone. This kind of fear leads a person to DESIRE to repent and repentance and a desire to repent is given to a person from God. You have shown that you DO care. If you didn't care at all about the Lord, eternity, being right with Him, following Him, etc, then you'd have to worry.
 
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