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Thank you for your reply. I appreciate you taking time to answer. Thank God that He is able to restore us, even if we fall seven times, like it says.I think the key thing is to understand, salvation means that your current sin is forgiven. You are saved from the judgment that comes because of sin.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23
Now, the forgiveness of sin gives person a new beginning for clean table. If you after that go back to sin, the forgiveness was not useful, similarly as it is not very useful to clean your car and right after that mess it with mud. That is the reason why Jesus taught that we should repent.
"Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."
Matt. 4:17
"Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more."
John 8:11
The eternal life is for righteous people. If one doesn’t become righteous after forgiveness, the forgiveness is not very useful.
These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
Mat. 25:46
But even righteous person may make mistakes, and if so, because he is righteous, he regrets when he understands that he has done wrongly and it can be forgiven.
For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises up again; But the wicked are overthrown by calamity.
Pro. 24:16
I think sin really means that person rejects God. If you don’t reject God, you are not in sin.
He who does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever is born of God doesn't commit sin, because his seed remains in him; and he can't sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are revealed, and the children of the devil. Whoever doesn't do righteousness is not of God, neither is he who doesn't love his brother.
1 John 3:7-10
Thank you for your answer. I appreciate you taking time to answer. God bless! I believe that assurance of salvation is for those who believe, and show that they have real faith through good works, as James is talking about. But definitely, we're not perfect all the time no. Thank you.Thanks for giving me your thoughts on the term Living in sin knowingly.. To me the term living in sin is associated with an attitude of rebellion against the standards of God.. So a person who is living in sin will be engaged for example in an adulterous affair over a long period and who defiantly rejects the standard of God on the issue and intends to continue on in that adultery for as long as they can..
We all sin and we Christians who know the standards of God know that we are transgressing against the standards of God when we sin. But temptation and weakness see's us on occasion giving into sin but at the same time there is no attempt at justifying our sin before God on the contrary there is a feeling of regret and fear of God and a desire to acknowledge our sin to god and a desire to resist that sin.. So a repentant sinner will sin lass and will be resisting sin as much as they can.. Again it is about a different attitude.. Not one of rebellion against Gods will but one of acknowledgement of the truth and goodness of Gods will and the admission of our sins as being transgressions against what is good..
Thank you for your answer. I appreciate you taking time to answer. God bless! I believe that assurance of salvation is for those who believe, and show that they have real faith through good works, as James is talking about. But definitely, we're not perfect all the time no. Thank you.
Thank you, I'm praying for you too =) Thanks for sharing your story friend!! =) There's one thing I'm glad I know, which helps me a lot, maybe it will help you too: The christian life is about a relationship with God, through Jesus Christ (John 17:3), and since it's a relationship, I guess we shouldn't be too caught up in just "works", although God does want us to live holy and walk in forgiveness and stuff- but number one is knowing Him, and His Son Jesus. And God really loves us ALL the time, but that doesn't mean we can do things which He hates. But still He doesn't hate us. He just wants us to turn away from the sin and ask for His forgiveness. I guess this is what we do in every healthy relationship. We ask for forgiveness if we know we hurt someone. I guess its possible to use grace as a licence to sin, but then we don't have a relationship, we just have an excuse to sin as much as we want. That's not a safe place to be in light of eternity. On the other hand, we can very occupied with works without having a relationship, and then its basically a religion- not a relationship. That's not a safe place to be when it comes to eternity either. I think it's important that we truly have received Jesus as our Saviour, and know that He was punished for ALL our sins on the cross, so that we could be forgiven. God is good. I think also it's important to remember that we can grieve and hurt God, and do things which He hates, and so we need to ask God to forgive us sometimes. And He does. I hope we both will find all the answers Jesus has for us!! God bless. HugsI have always wondered about those things as well , I find grace hard to understand I would love to have the peace or assurance of salvation but I find I cannot " just have faith " I know faith without works is dead , but then we cannot work our way to heaven , so how do I just relax and let God lead when i am not sure if it is his voice I hear and not my own inner voice ? The closest I can figure is if once saved always saved then the rewards we stand to loose must be vast and great ! I am referring to the scripture that talks about our works tested by fire to see what is left , but for me just having peace and assurance of salvation would be fantastic ! But I have fell in my walk and recently came back I am trying to find the proper way like you , when I first became a Christian I was legalistic and it was tough then I went far to liberal now I just want peace , love and acceptance. I hope and pray you find your answer
Thank you so much, and thank you for writing in such a loving way. I feel loved. Yes, I have believed and confessed Jesus as Lord and Saviour. God is good. I also believe that it is important to ask God to forgive me if I sin. Thank God we can have assurance of being God's children because of Jesus' work. Also I choose to believe that walking in unforgiveness or living in sin is dangerous, and that such people should not feel that they are on their way to heaven. We believers are quick to repent I guess. We are born again, hallelujah =) BlessingsHi...........
There are lots and lots and lots of points-of-view. The ultimate analysis, however, only the "POV" of the Holy Spirit applies. Here He is:
John 14:6, John 3:16-17, John 5:24, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 8:1. There is so much more HE adds throughout scripture. You, obviously, have confessed Jesus as Savior. You, obviously, are walking in His Footsteps. There is NO way He is going to let you slip away into damnation. NO way! You are Spiritually-birthed, born again, safe and secure within His embrace now and forevermore. You and I will greet each other, shake hands, embrace, and thank God for where we are (Heaven) and Who He is (Our wondrous Savior), all because of His Amazing Grace and our confession in Romans 10:8-13. Let not your heart be troubled! HE is Lord, Savior, Master, Prince of Peace, and He loves you, now and forevermore!
I'm so grateful that you shared your post with us and that I have been alerted by HIM to respond.
Thank you. Yes, as a good Father He defintely knows what's best for us, and sometimes He diciplines His children. I guess this is just something else we will all thank God for if we know the results of that dicipline. God blessI think you also have to take this verse into consideration:
Hebrews 12:
[6] For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
[7] If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
[8] But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
God WILL discipline His children. Regardless of whether you sin deliberately, out of ignorance or in omittance, God will chastise you. God will teach you.
I have fought with porn my entire adult life. I have tried to rationalize it every which way possible. Along the way, God has beat me over the head several times. In the end, God is always right and His way is the BEST way, today and forever. Sometimes I'm a very slow learner. Be comforted by the fact that you do feel guilty because that's an indication that God is working in you.
Thank you very much. Its very exciting things we have to look forward too if we are born again. Praise God. God bless you =)I applaud your dedication to pray and eceive with an open heart. Kingdom has an underlying reward system. Ruling on Lord's throne with Lord, authority over cities (the Number seems to vary, and of course serve now and be served later or Be served now and serve later. There is mention of two KINGdoms One of Heaven (around the earth) and the KINGdom of God total creation (i am not clear on this I have seen it illustrated in beginning or my journey seeking intimacy. Salvation is eternal and in the present, Failure as mentioned may just affect the now not the eternal??? Grace be multiplied through our faith works of obedience.
I haven't noticed what you said about Judas there before. Thanks for telling me that. Thanks for taking time to write. Thanks for mentining hypocrisy. Its a dangerous thing.The difference between a genuinely converted believer in Christ and a religious hypocrite is that a genuine believer is not afraid to show his or her sins to God. A religious hypocrite will hide them and give the appearance that he or she has "arrived" and is a saintly person. In fact, religious hypocrites can appear much more saintly than genuine believers, and this can be quite a deception for younger, less experienced believers who may be fooled into looking up to these people and allowing them to become mentors for them.
What makes religious hypocrisy an effective counterfeit is that you wouldn't know the difference between that and genuine faith in Christ by just observing their outward conduct. They would go to public services, say the right words, appear to be holy in their lives, even be involved in ministry, and be quite prominent and famous in it. We have seen some of the "big-name" ministries eventually exposed for their hypocrisy, with the result that many honest believers who have supported them, being hurt, wounded, and damaged by the deception.
A genuine believer could be mistaken for a hypocrite if when observing the outward behaviour, they don't seem to be living up to the common standard of what a believer should be. But that can be deceptive in itself because we look on the outward appearance but God looks on the heart. This is another major difference between an honest believer and a hypocrite. Although the hypocrite does all the outward things perfectly, he does not do any of the important things, like prayer, study of the Bible, confession of sin to God, mourning over his fault and failings, that a true believers does.
So, when we observe a professing believer being "super spiritual" and/or has a "holier than thou" attitude, the alarm bells should ring inside of us, because we may be in the presence of a religious hypocrite and not a genuine believer. A genuine believer is honest, sincere, and straightforward in his life and conduct, and his humble, kind, gentle, faithful, loving, joyful, and self controlled in his or her contact with others.
And yet, even that can be a deception, because a religious hypocrite can be all those things too. This is why we need the discernment of spirits and the inner guidance of the Holy Spirit to warn us to be wary of anyone who might look good, but something about them does not seem quite right. It can be just a little niggle, but just that little niggle can be a warning from the Holy Spirit to be careful and wary and not accept a person or what they say at face value.
Now when I talk of confession of sin and not hiding it from God, we need to be careful about that as well. Some sins should be confessed and discussed only with God in private. Religious hypocrites may confess chosen sins in public to impress others of their humility and that they are "sinners saved by grace", but this is to fool the unwary. I would be very careful about professing Christians confessing serious sins in public. Genuine believers are ashamed of their sins and are reluctant to confess them in public. They go to God's throne of grace and confess them there and then leave them there.
Also, you will be interested to know that genuine believers are more concerned about the sinfulness of sin than about the punishment of it. Religious hypocrites are more concerned about how the sin will affect their spiritual state and the punishment that will come for it. Genuine believers will be more concerned about the dishonouring of God and the disrepute to the Church through their sin.
When Jesus told the disciples that one of them was going to betray Him, they all asked, "Is it I?" But when Jesus talked about the punishment that was going to come to the person who betrayed Him, it was then that Judas asked, Is is me?" Judas was the guilty one, and he was not concerned at first and hid his intention to betray Jesus; but when the subject of punishment came up, this jolted Judas into asking the question, "Is it me?" The other disciples were genuine believers, but Judas was the religious hypocrite.
Thank you too!I believe those who are saved will be moved to do good works.. But that we are saved by believing and trusting in the Atonement secured by the LORD Jesus Christ.. Our good works are a kind of celebration of the truth of God.. They are not a part of the victory over death but they are a part of the celebration of a victory already won.
Thank you for the discussion..
It's good in a discussion like this to remember the core foundation upon which the new covenant stands:One thing is maybe clear to me though:
Some people say christians wouldn't live in sin all the time, and walk in unforgiveness all time time, and others may say that if you are a christian and do those things you lose your salvation. They take different positions, but basically they both end up with the same warning: If you live in sin all the time, and don't want to repent, or if you refuse to forgive someone, you are on the way to hell. The first believes that because the actions of this person shows that he is not saved, and the other thinks its because he did something that made the person lose his salvation. If none of these positions are true at least still these warnings will produce sanctification I hope. Well, maybe I wrote something wrong now, but think about it anyway.
Thanks sdowney 717, I get your position- that Jesus' warnings are given to make true believers distinct from false believers. I agree with you that this is a possible solution, but the problem for me is, how can I know it is the right one? What if it is possible to die spiritually by living in sin for example? I'm just asking by the way, not saying I believe it is like that. I'm so scared of being wrong, since this has to do with the most important of the most important of the most important, if you know what I mean.
Romans 8:13: "For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live."
I agree. The way we deal with the battle that we have between the flesh and the Spirit is that we don't try and deal with it at the lower point of our weaknesses and failures. We start at the high point of faith in Christ. Once we establish our faith in Christ and what He did on the cross for us, and become very secure in that faith for our justification; then we can deal with our sinfulness, shortcomings and failures from that high point. If we try and deal with them at the low point and then try to come up to Christ, we will be so busy trying to keep the Law concerning those sins that we will never get up there to a strong faith in Christ alone for our justification. This will leave us in condemnation and sin-consciousness, instead of peace and joy in Christ.Another thing is that Jesus said, the works of the Lord are to believe on him whom he sent. I think the great danger is losing faith.
Thank you. Yes, as a good Father He defintely knows what's best for us, and sometimes He diciplines His children. I guess this is just something else we will all thank God for if we know the results of that dicipline. God bless
This isn't right though. Hebrews 10:29 says so in very strong language.Hi everyone! Shalom to you.
So I've been studying the bible a lot lately. I've been praying so much also, that God really would show me the whole truth (and I'm open in my heart for whatever God wants to show me, whether I feel it's easy or "legalistic" in my eyes).
I know verses like Ephesians 2:8-9 which says: "for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast."
For many christians this settles the case, they think "OK. We're saved by grace, then of course it makes no sense that we can lose our salvation by our works, or else, how can be be saved by grace?"
This is rightAnd it seems right to me as well. But what if something else is meant by it? I'm not trying to remove your assurance of salvation, just checking if we got it right. What if he's saying that everyone can be saved by believing in Jesus, but if they don't work out their salvation by walking in forgiveness towards others, by not living in sin and etc, they will spiritually die?
How can I really know that Jesus' warnings about not forgiving (as in Matthew 18) is directed towards christians for example? Or His warning about servants that started drinking and beating the other servants of Christ (Matthew 24)? Or Paul in Galatians 5, 1 Corinthians 6 and Ephesians 5 warning that those who do "this, this, this" will not inherit God's kingdom.
Amen.I'm confused, and have read SO MUCH. Not only the bible either. Calvinists, arminians, pentecostal beliefs, baptist beliefs, OSAS and so much more.
May the Lord reveal His truth to us! And may our hearts receive that truth.
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