While the
John 5:24 verse is true as it says, the mechanism of how it is accomplished is explained in the rest of the bible - renewed day by day by having the daily bread, the body of Jesus daily, and all the other references below. It is not sufficient for a person to declare they’re saved only once in their life.
??? It is the Bible, God's word, that declares a person saved for all time upon their trusting in Christ as their Saviour and Lord, not the person him/herself (
John 3:15-17; Romans 10:9-13; Ephesians 2:8-9). This forever salvation is implied in the descriptions of the born-again believer and also in direct declarations of Scripture:
John 1:12-13
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Can one be born and then unborn? The analogy of birth Christ used in
John 3:1-8 becomes nonsensical, it seems to me, if the second, spiritual birth must be daily renewed and is undone if it is not. Is this the case with our fleshly birth? Not at all. Why draw a direct parallel between the two kinds of birth, as Jesus did, if they are in this respect so fundamentally different? It is the very irreversibility of coming into material existence, marked by physical birth, that seems to be the feature most prominently indicated by such a parallel. The fact of one's physical being, of one's conception and physical development in the womb, and eventual birth, cannot be reversed or undone. Via conception, one exists, as God ordains, and from that moment onward, nothing can be done to negate or undo this state-of-affairs.
So, too, as John indicates in the passage above, concerning our spiritual birth. A person becomes a "son of God" not by dint of their own faithfulness in renewing daily their salvation, not by the will power of any person, or by any physical means (blood, will of the flesh), but
only and entirely by God. And His birth of person a second time into His spiritual kingdom and family is just as irreversible as their first birth which He also ordained, entirely apart from the will or effort of those He has created.
John 10:27-29
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
The phrase "no man" is pretty comprehensive in its scope of reference. The sheep are given to the Good Shepherd, to Christ, by God, and Christ will lose not a one. No one can remove another from his hand, nor can we remove ourselves from his hand. We are sheep
chosen by God in Christ,
given eternal life
as a gift, not obtaining it through
our own daily
efforts to
sustain ourselves with the "Bread of Life."
It is in light of these things that we read Paul's castigations of the sinful believers in Corinth, but who, again and again, he confirmed that they were, nonetheless, "in Christ," born-again, fellow members of God's family. (
1 Corinthians 3:1-3; 1 Corinthians 6:15-20; 1 Corinthians 11) Obviously, such carnal believers were not daily partaking of the "bread of fellowship" with God and yet their salvation remained intact, according to Paul.
“… Give us this day our daily Bread, and forgive us our sins…”; Bread being the body of Jesus, does not negate
John 5:24, but fulfills it, in a daily way. Which is apparently the way God wanted it, not the way our churches want it.
For a Jewish person who believes in the Messiah, this needs no explanation.
John 6:31-37
31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.
37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
Jesus sets himself in this passage
in contrast to the manna given to the OT Israelites in the wilderness, requiring replenishment each day. Jesus is the "True Bread from Heaven" who, once received, satisfies forever. Never again will the born-again person "hunger" or "thirst" spiritually, in their "second birth" filled up fully and eternally in and by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ (
Romans 8:9-14; 1 John 4:13; Titus 3:5-8). And just so we understand exactly what this means, Christ very explicitly declared,
"...whoever comes to me I will never cast out."
The writer of Hebrews reinforces all of this, explaining,
Hebrews 7:22-28
22 This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.
23 The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office,
24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.
25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.
28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
Why were sacrifices made to God for the sins of the people? As a covering for their sins, a temporary expiation of them. But Christ has once
for all atoned perfectly and completely; nothing else is required to satisfy God's holiness and justice. And so, our forgiveness is found in this atonement, not in our efforts, our faithfulness to seek out God, our determination to fellowship with Him every day.
2 Corinthians 4:6-18
6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
The "treasure" of the Holy Spirit, who has taken up residence in human "jars of clay" (
1 Corinthians 6:19-20) exerts in us a power that is not ours but belongs to God. What power? The power of regeneration, of new spiritual life, that enables our holy living (
Philippians 2:13). Without this power - the Person of the Holy Spirit - we have neither spiritual life nor the wherewithal to live as we ought to live. What then of our salvation being renewed by, and depending upon,
our carefulness in taking in the "Bread of Life" each day?
8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;
9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.
13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak,
14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.
Here again, Paul rests the believer's spiritual life in the Holy Spirit, not in any human attribute of the believer, making much of suffering, the "death" he experienced in service to God, in which God made manifest
His power (not Paul's).
15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
In the afflicted service to God which Paul endured, his physical body "wasted away," but his inner self, his spiritual being as a joint-heir with Christ (
Romans 8:17) was renewed. By what means? By Paul's determination and faithfulness in pursuing God by which he obtained God's forgiveness day by day? No, by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit about which he had just been writing. He had explained this in his letter to Titus:
Titus 3:5-7
5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
And in his letter to the church at Ephesus:
Ephesians 3:16
16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
1. The Lord’s Prayer is the perfect Prayer. It contains the perfect wording when talking with God. It is all spiritual; nothing earthly about it. A true believer who knows God well, would want to pray it daily.
Any words we put together are nothing but “filthy rags”
Isaiah 64:6
Isaiah was not referring to the prayers of born-again believers. He knew nothing of such prayers when he declared what he did in
Isaiah 64:6, nor of the spiritually-regenerated condition in which they would be made.
And how do you account for the many prayers that appear in the NT that aren't the Lord's Prayer? What of the complete absence of any teaching throughout the books of the NT that the Lord's Prayer is the perfect prayer and ought always to be repeated by believers every day in order to remain saved?
2. Reciting this prayer daily is not “works”. It is an act of obedience; Jesus Himself said we should pray it.
He gave his prayer as an example
to Jews living under the Old Covenant, not to born-again believers indwelt by the Holy Spirit and beneficiaries of a "new and living way" made through Christ.
3. The Lord’s prayer is to be prayed daily, as the prayer clearly states. God wants to connect with us daily.
He does this quite apart from the Lord's Prayer.
