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Matthew 6: 20. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
Please help me... What means can I lay up for myself treasures in heaven?
Thank you.
......When he was on the Cross shedding his blood for humanity....He was PRESENTING up to God a Glorious Church without spot or wrinkle US SINNERS ...The New Covenant IN HIS BLOOD....Tell the vision to no man till the son of man is risen again...( when the book is opened )
Does Satan have the authority to take away life? I believe that only God gives & takes away life. In Satan's domain (i.e. outside the Church to which a sinning believer might be sent), pain & destruction may well be the physical demise of the believer, to the end that his "spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus".
Re: "untimely death". I mean that a life was shortened because of God's action against sin. We see this in many instances in the OT & NT, & especially that we have already mentioned Ananias & Sapphira ( Acts 5); 1 Corinthians 11:27-30; Acts 12:21-23.
Re: Hebrews 10:26,27 & we can add, Hebrews 6:4-6 as well; these verses have been discussed previously by bro Jesse & myself & too long to deal with here.
Re: Acts 21:20. All I can see from this limited detail, is that the Church (the Jewish component), hadn't properly dealt with the separation of the Law & the liberty they ought to have enjoyed in Christ. Much like today, when those coming out of other religions or cults, might take a long time to understand & resolve matters that have been indoctrinated deep into their minds. The fact that the Jerusalem council seemed to understand & accept this matter didn't warrant them to address it. However, Paul always did & was taken to task for doing so.
I hope I've addressed the points you raised, brother. I know we will see these things differently, but I hope you can also see how I understand it: the Lord knows His children & they have been brought into His family by His indwelling Spirit. Does God make an error in doing so? Or, are His children secure in Him & when they err, His correction done in love, will always bring us back into fellowship. If it doesn't do so, then, speaking personally, I would have to question my salvation, that it was merely a mental or emotional assent given, without a true change in heart & spirit. And that's the only way I can understand some of these difficult, apparently contentious, Scriptures. Every blessing.
b. I note your understanding of the two Greek words in question, that there is no significant difference between them. But why I earlier suggested that "fail" indicates 'falling short', is because of the earlier verses 5-11, indicating that believers who err, must be recipients of God's Chastisement - if not, those believers are imposters (illegitimate). So why then do we read verses 12-15, speaking about their learning from God's Discipline, to follow peace with all men, & holiness of life, and having careful introspection (episkopeo)? That they might not 'fail' (fall short) of God's Grace. If we apply 'failing God's Grace' to 'loss of salvation', then God's Discipline seems unnecessary, as that would provide no correction to bring one back to holy living. But to the true believer, God's Discipline must bring about the desired results, because if it didn't, then we would be illegitimate, even as Esau relinquished his birthright & was rejected.
c. Re: the prodigal son parable. I think that the point of the story was that a son wanted to go out on his own, fell into hard times, came to his senses, & was joyfully received back by his father. I don't see any reference here to "God's punishment to cause a change of course & come back". It is as you say, 'the son's decision' to return & he was welcomed home, just as a wayward believer would, returning back setting his eyes only on God. No chastisement or punishment here, as this parable wasn't suggesting that. But we do read of God's disciplining in Hebrews 12. How that takes place can be different to each one of us: whether the gentle urging of the Holy Spirit, a stern message from the pulpit, sickness, even death (as was for Ananias & Sapphira). The point is, that a believer will receive the Word from the Lord in some way & will be corrected. Why? Because he is a blood-bought child of a loving God, even as a loving earthly father would never reject his child but first offer correction & restoration.
Thank you bro Giannis for your lengthy reply - & I trust you had a profitable time away. I'll try to deal with the points you raised.
a. Agreed, Galatians is written to believers & in Galatians 5:1, we read of Paul's urgent warning to stand fast in the liberty given by Christ & not be swayed by others to become entangled into legalistic bondage (the Law/circumcision). And so Paul lays out the Truth to these who may be considering/drifting towards this false teaching: 'if your justification comes by obedience to the Law, then God's Grace (salvation) would no longer be yours.' I see this as a warning towards a principal: 'Law & Grace don't mix, so stand fast in Christ's liberty.' Hopefully, those erring Galatians would heed Paul's teaching rather than the false ones, & hold onto the Truth.
But your question would be, 'what about those who don't heed it, won't they fall from God's Grace?' I agree that they would, but did anyone from their midst, come to this sad state of losing their salvation? Or was it simply Paul's warning to the Church about this false doctrine, that righteousness doesn't come by obedience to the Law, therefore don't be fooled by this teaching. And to add, Paul says in verse 10, "I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be." I guess, it depends how one wants to view this passage in Galatians: as a warning against false teachers or as a teaching that salvation can be lost.
Surely they knew Christ had nothing, only the tatered clothing on His back! No place to stay, homeless! Yet,
Peter a fisherman, could not have been doing very well either, since He nad not worked in awhile following Christ in His ministry.
Taxes can become an overwhelming affair, for anyone who has not worked , living and working with Christ the king!
Peter comes into the house, by now overwhelmed with idea how he is going to pay!
Jesus could have sent Peter anywhere to retrieve this mony! Instead He sends Him to the place of His employment! The sea!
Imagine Jesus sending you a fisherman with one hook! Telling you the first fish you catch, open its mouth too discover the coin that would pay this money!
Peter goes with the words of Christ, as He goes pondering Jesus word of freedom of those who are the children of the king. With the they serve. No longer strangers, but now children in the kingdom of freedom!
Freedom in light of the King we serve, experiancing the miracles of God! This experiance while gone, we wait to see the expresion on Peter's face as He flips the coin too them!
Serving the creator, is serving the King. If you are serving the KIng, then you are indeed free!
Repent and be Baptised
11-19 A sense of our spiritual leprosy should make us very humble whenever we draw near to Christ. It is enough to refer ourselves to the compassions of Christ, for they fail not. We may look for God to meet us with mercy, when we are found in the way of obedience. Only one of those who were healed returned to give thanks. It becomes us, like him, to be very humble in thanksgivings, as well as in prayers. Christ noticed the one who thus distinguished himself, he was a Samaritan. The others only got the outward cure, he alone got the spiritual blessing.
[mishael]. I didn't see a Kings house in this passage, in Luke.
Human can tell you what is not true in answer to your question.
Every year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would enter into the Holy of Holies. He was the only one allowed to enter in. He would go in and sprinkle blood on the mercy seat. And that would be for the purpose of making atonement for his sin and also for others. This did not remove their sin. It was only a covering.
If you read through Hebrews Chapter 9, it talks about the superiority of the heavenly sanctuary and about Jesus now being our high priest.
Hebrews 9:1-10 talks about the worldly sanctuary. The sanctuary of Christ is in Verse 11, and we see the substance in verses 11 and 12. Verse 12 says, Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, (and that would be the holy of holies), just like the high priest, having obtained eternal redemption for us, once. And the blood He brought was His own. And He offered it once on behalf of all of us!
In Hebrews 9:13-14, the writer is making a comparison that the blood of bulls and goats is just a fleshly thing.
In the human, and flesh stands for human, but in the human, if you performed everything that God said under His law, then in the human you would be marked as fulfilling your duty. But your conscience isn't cleansed.
So the old sanctuary and its sacrifice did not purge or purify anyone. In the Old Testament, the blood of animals only covered sin. With Christ, everything is removed.
The correct interpretation of 1 Corinthians 15:20 is, Jesus Christ has been raised from dead persons, .. the dead...
The firstfruit, is the beginning of a sacrifice, [the first fruit, the beginning] for those who have fallen asleep, those who died already.
The beginning of the price paid for Salvation for all who have died past, present, and future.
Where do you think Jesus went when He died? He went to Tartarus, prison to teach the Gospel to those who had not known Him, and proclaimed his victory whereby some were saved.
Jesus became the firstfruit for all who slept(died and gone to Heaven or prison) no matter who was there or not.
But the fearful,.... Not the timorous sheep and lambs of Christ, the dear children of God, who are sometimes of a fearful heart, on account of sin, temptation, and unbelief; but such who are of cowardly spirits, and are not valiant for the truth, BUT who, through fear of men, either make no profession of Christ and his Gospel, or having made it, drop it, lest they should be exposed to tribulation and persecution; these are they that are afraid of the beast, and live in servile bondage to him.
And unbelieving; meaning not merely atheists, who do not believe there is a God, or deists only, that do not believe in Christ; but such who profess his name, and are called by it, and yet do not truly believe in him, nor embrace his Gospel and the truths of it, but believe a lie; these are condemned already, and on them the wrath of God abides, and they will be damned at last; though it may have a regard to such also who are infidels as to the second coming of Christ to judgment, and who are scoffers and mockers at it:
and the abominable: every sinful man is so in the sight of God; but here it denotes such who are the worst of sinners, given up to sinning; who are abominable, and to every good work reprobate; who are addicted to the worst of crimes, as were the Sodomites and others; the Ethiopic version renders it, "who pollute themselves" with unnatural lusts. The Syriac and Arabic versions express it by two words, "sinners and polluted", filthy sinners; the character well agrees with Babylon, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth, and to all that adhere to her, and join with her in her abominable idolatries.
And murderers; of the saints, and prophets, and martyrs of Jesus, with whose blood Babylon, or the whore of Rome, has made herself drunk, and in whom it will be
((See websites to continue))
Hello Chris. Sorry for my delayed answer but I just managed to get back to you.
a. Paul's letter to Galatians is not addressed to unbelievers but to the church, the saved saints of Galatia. What happened there? Some christians from other places who were Jews came to Galatia and tought people there that they can not be saved by the grace of Jesus only, but through Moses' law as well. Those people that were drifted towards such teaching were not unbelievers but were members of the local church, saved people that is. In verse 5:4 Paul tells them "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.". So one who is saved if he changes course and seeks salvation through works (Mosaic Law) then he looses God's grace, which grace in this case means salvation. Why? Because He seeks ijustification through works and not Jesus' Blood. As you write the greek word "ekpipto" is used, translated as "fallen", which is accurate enough
b. Paul's letter to Hebrews is also addressed to believers. What Paul says is that if somebody has a root of bitterness in his heart, and does nothing about it, and keeps being in an unforgivable situation, then he lacks in God's grace. Why? Because he doesn't repent and stays in his sin. The greek "hystero" is translated as "fail" which is not the same but doesn't make any significant difference. Hystero means "lack in", "left behnd", the word Hysterisis in Physics comes from this word. What Paul means is that if a believer stays in a state that he doesn't want to repent or doesn't make any efford to correct his sin, then God's grace is not upon him. Paul uses Esau as an example for somebody who doesn't repent for his sin but still wants to get the blessing, and that can not be possible. The same happens for fornicators and profane persons. Pay attention Paul doesn't talk to unbelievers, there is no point for that, those have to come to faith to be saved. He talks to believers
to be cont...
c. It is not God who punishes people to make them change course and come back. In the story of the prodigal son, the father didn't go after his son to bring him back. It was the hard times that the son lived through, outside his father's protection, that made him decide to go back. Once a person is outside God's protection, satan is incharge. Paul says to Corinthians about that believer who was living wth his father's wife. 1 Cor 5:5 "To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." How come satan has the authority to destruct a believer? Because he lives in an unforgivable sin. Will that person eventually repent and return? Maybe yes, maybe no. In our lives we have seen many cases that prodigal sons never come back, and this is a reality. Judas never came back, Demas never came back, neither did Ananias and Sapphira did.
Often the parable of the shepherd and the lost sheep is used to justify the belief of a secured salvation, but in this case the sheep got lost, was confused, lost his vision and his way, so Jesus looked for it and brought it back. But in the parable of the prodigal son, the son didn't loose his way, wasn't confused, wasn't lost somehow, but he freely decided to go away from his house and live his sinful life spending his father's fortune. In this case father never went after him but waited for his son in the house, if he finally did come back.
d. What do you mean with "an untimely death will follow if warnings are not heeded". Doesn't this mean that he died in his sin and was eventually lost? Weren't those Jews that disobeyed Mose's Law went to hell, like all those that didn't make it in the promised land because they believed in the spies' stories? And so many other examples in OT.
to be cont...
Chris
Well it really gets long, I hope I don't tire you.
Please read Ezekiel 18:24. "But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die." Since one's righteousness will not be mentioned, and he will die in his sin, what should I therefore conclude? That he is going to hell, isn't it so?
Hebrews 10:26-27 "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries."
In the above Paul doesn't talk about unbelievers, for those salvation is always available even if they once rejected it. Paul talks about people who were once in faith but later lost their faith and believed that Jesus' sacrifice and Blood were nothing really.
So brother my belief is that if ones turns away from God, and despite God's efforts to make him repent, he dies in his sin then he will not enter Heaven but hell.
Now I want to ask you a question. We agree that if somebody seeks salvation not only through Jesus' sacrifice, but through works, then he is not granted salvation. So what do you make of those Jews that believed to Jesus but still obeyed the Law of Moses. James said to Paul in Acts 21:20 "And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:". Those thousands of Jews were saved, weren't they? But how come since they were zealous of the law?
I don't mean to be offensive even if sometimes it seems so. If we don't agree it is OK, we actually know what we both believe but we try to get to a possible agreement
God Blessings
earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
It is the same word used in both places, not the English word fearful because it says fearful in both places, but the Greek word DEILOS is used in both places. This word means cowardly, not fearful like PHOBOS.
In Mark 4:40, can you imagine such a big storm like that and all He says is "Stop and be quiet!" Everything is like nothing happened!
So Jesus asks them two questions. First, why are ye so fearful?
Now if it was me, if I understood from the English what fearful means, I would be like "Fearful? You got to be kidding! We were in the biggest storm of our life. What do you mean fearful?"
Jesus was saying, why were you cowards? How is it that you have no faith? That is not a challenge. He is saying take inventory. Why don't you have faith?
It says they feared exceedingly. They had no courage to face the storm, and rightly so. No human being would have the courage to face the storm. And he asked them, why don't you have faith?
You see, faith is produced by the Holy Spirit. Jesus continually put them in circumstances that were beyond their human means and their human ability.
That is true for every Christian. The bible says that the Lord directs the steps of every righteous person.
Every storm, every trial, and every tribulation, is designed by God. And for the Christian, the design will be that this will be too much for you, because only God can do it!
God can't use a coward, A coward will blow like a sheet in the wind, this way that way, they wont stand up for righteousness/justice.
...... Rev. 1 :13....And in the midst of the 7 candle sticks I saw 1 like the SON OF MAN , clothed with a garment down to the feet and girt down to the paps with a Golden girdle.
.....Thats y i believe that the 7 candlesticks of Rev 11 and Zech 4....My 2 witnesses are Christ and the H.G....The Son of Man and the H.G.
John 15 :26...But when he the spirit of truth is come the H.G. ( the comforter ) he shall bear WITNESS of me....Thus we see the 2 witnesses are Christ and the HG.....The 2 Olive Trees that contain the holy Oil....Gods Spirit...The Kingdom