Bible Discussion Replies PAGE 1882

Alia,

Look for a church that seeks to glorify God by spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. Ignore denominations and ask questions. The first question I ask of any pastor is "do you believe in eternal salvation" or "do you believe once saved always saved." If they answer yes to this, then they understand the work and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Jesus is life and gives it freely to any that seek Him.

Joh 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Sherry, these verses and many more confirm that salvation, once given, is eternal.

Joh 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Joh 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

Joh 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Joh 10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

Do not get standing and relationship confused. Once a person is truly saved, they are made a child of God. This is your standing and you cannot lose it. However, if a person continues in their sin, they can lose their relationship with God. Just like a rebellious child damages their relationship with their parents.

As for repentance, this is only a recognition of a persons sins and a persons decision to turn away from it. God honors that decision even if we are unable to. Salvation is totally the work of God. He draws us to Jesus who paid the price and if we accept the price, we become His, "is passed from death unto life."

Richard,

I do see the parallel in the Parable of the Sower. I love that parable and how the soil represents the heart. The seed that falls into stony places, the Greek text seems to indicate that this is not rocks mixed in with dirt, but an actual cement slab. There's just enough dirt on top of the slab to catch the seed, but not enough for the seed to take root. I notice that out of the four types of soil (Heart conditions) that this seed falls on, only one out of the four describes salvation, and that is the seed that falls on good ground, as you mentioned. That is the only one out of the four that bears fruit. Only a saved person bears fruit.

And yes, we are His sheep and He knows us (Present Tense). A saved believer, when they stand before the Lord at their appointed time, they will never hear the words "Depart from me, I never knew you."

I have to admit, I thought I might have received a more negative response because I was a little unsure where you stood on the permanency of salvation. I do enjoy reading your posts and I think we are in agreement with each other on a lot of things.

Blessings, in Christ Jesus!

Hi Eric.

Stay with it Eric sometimes we find out answers when we are least expecting it, and often in another book of the Bible, your diligence will be rewarded.

Have a blessed day and stay in contact.

When Jesus called Lazarus to come forth; did other corpses rise from the dead; at the same time or was it only Lazarus.

It is the will of Sovereign God to receive immense glory from His creation and how great is that glory given to Christ when he saves us from our unrighteousness. That glory far exceeds the glory Christ would receive only from a righteous creation.

Thank you brother Jesse! My flesh must be your relation!

:)

God bless you brother Richard!

Made it home, hydrating! Not that the day went exceptionally smooth but it was a good day!

Grateful and thankful!

:)

Brother Carleton,

Thank you so much for the clarification. I'm sorry I didn't pick up that you were keying in on repentance. I think I'm following you now. I can be a dummy sometimes so please bear with me!

As I'm reading through your post, there is so much of the Greek coming to my mind and I'm trying not to jumble things up. I do understand God's grace (CHARIS). As far as faith goes, there are two types of faith, human faith, and the faith the Bible speaks about. We all have human faith, but not everyone has the faith that the bible speaks about. That faith only comes from God's Spirit. He is the source. In fact, the Greek word for faith in the bible means persuasion. It's when God's Spirit persuades us to do something.

And that's what makes sense when you say "Grace to have faith and confess Him and grace to repent in Him, and that God leads us by grace to repentance at the cross." That word faith literally means persuasion. God persuades us and shows us our need for repentance.



I agree that we are eternally saved at the cross. That's why the bible says we were crucified with Christ. You are at a place where you have found peace at the foot of the cross. Jesus Christ bore all of our sins at the cross, and in Him, all who have received Him are at peace.

I fully understand what you are saying about the flesh thing. The flesh will never submit to the things of the Lord. Here's something I would like to share with you about the flesh. In my daily life, I find that most of my struggle is not with Satan. Most of my struggle is with Christ because my flesh is continuously trying to get down off that cross.

But praise God that he is a God of grace and mercy. And He has His ways of dealing with me when I decide to go in a different direction from where He is leading me. And as you know, sometimes it can be harsh. That's how we know we belong to Him. It's when He disciplines us or chastises us when we get out of line!

God Bless!!!

god love me tahe bible tell me si

Sherry,

I also would like to share this with you and anyone else in this thread about the cost of a Jewish person denouncing Judaism and receiving Christ. A pastor had shared a true story with me about a Jewish man who left Judaism and received Jesus Christ.

This man lived in NY City. When he gave up on Judaism to follow Christ, his family denounced him. They even held a funeral for him even though he was still alive because they considered him dead.

And then one day as this man was walking down the street in NY City, he saw his father approaching from the opposite direction. The man waved and called out to him and said "Hey, dad." The dad just stared at him with a blank look. The man said, "Dad, it's me, your son." And he replied back and said, "You can't be my son, my son is dead!"

That's how serious it is for a Jew to surrender their life to Jesus Christ.

Jesse, the SPIRIT has graced you with HIS truth in your answer to Richard; this is THE SABBATH REST.

Hebrews 3:1-19

Hebrews 4:1-16

Don't overwork yourself brother Carleton. Stay hydrated.

Many Blessings and peace be upon you.

Hi Jesse,

I am glad to hear you liked that verse I posted. I agree with how you explain about "salvation" being lost is really more for them that you may ask "were they ever really saved"? Jesus Christ knows His sheep and is known of them when it is revealed. When it is time for our Father to draw us to Him.

As the Hebrews had a lot to lose to follow the Lord and give their lives to Him. As I'm sure there are many people today in which their lives in this world may be more important that giving their lives to the Lord. It seems almost to parallel directly to the parable our Lord told us in Matthew 13:18-23. Being they who received seed in stony places or thorns. As us who are saved, and sealed, unto salvation are as they who received seed in good ground and bear good fruit for our Father in Heaven.

God Bless.

Hi Bob,

When you said "the code will be intrinsically linked to our DNA"?

What code and how does that relate to Isaiah 54?

Brother Jesse for me the key word in what I wrote is "repentance". This is using the phrase perhaps out of context but I believe that God draws us from grace to grace. Grace to have faith and confess Him and grace to repent in Him. God leads us by grace to repentance at the cross. At the cross we are eternally saved and no place else. I have Adam's flesh to contend with and my own free will by my mind to choose to believe and follow this grace. For me that place at the cross where the burden of sin was lifted away is a peaceful and restful place. Jesus is there with us because we are now in Him, made clean. When the burdens or drags as you mentioned in life weigh us down we do not need to fight that fight in our mind but return to Calvary as our eternal assurance that Jesus reigns in us. I believe (by experience) that sometimes though these burdens are severe (perhaps against God's leading I chose my own way) enough that the return to Calvary (where all is well) is not clear and repentance may be needed to see the way home again. My testimony is I know this place of eternal rest and peace even in the tribulations of this earth, but I know myself also that I can be deceived; that is why God by his Love, drew me by grace to see His grace which we believe to be his Mercy, which I believe is the way to repentance and eternal salvation which is eternal life.

It is always nice to try to communicate our hearts in His love.

Thank you brother Jesse.

Carleton

How does one find a church with such a pastor or a solid church?

Please help, this is a serious question. Eternity depends upon it

Where in the Bible do we have this quotation - in order to lead and inspire the same goal leaders practice the same, they have to be self controlled so that their followers will be too. They have to ambody the attributes they hope their followers emulate

Richard,

Thanks for sharing Ephesians 2:10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, literally upon the basis of good works, which God has before ordained, or planned, that we should walk in them. As believers, our new position is in Christ and we are the result of His workmanship. And we're walking in the life that He created for us before we were even saved.

Carleton,

Yes brother, salvation is eternal, amen! And I agree that it is God the Father that led us to Christ as Jesus says in John 6:44 that No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. Jesus has promised that He will raise us up at the last day. Jesus said in John 6:39, "And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day."

It is God the Father who draws us to Christ. It is God the Father who gives us to Christ. And Christ said of all that is given to Him, He will not lose one. That seems permanent to me.

Now the word "draw" isn't the drawing that I depict when I put my hand out to draw. This is the word drag in the Greek text. It's the same word used of Lot when the angels, and if you remember when he was leaving town, didn't want to go, and he hesitated?

It was the faithfulness of God that took him by the hand and dragged him out of the city. That is the faithfulness of God. Even in our hesitations, he'll drag us. So the saying is true, "Christianity is a drag!"

I am doing well, thank you. I am also happy to hear all is well with you. The Lord is good!

Violet,

I agree with your friend. When you say "I'm not sure," are you saying that you're not sure your friend is telling you the truth, or, are you not sure that what you read in the bible about the subject is correct?

Whenever someone shares something with a believer concerning the bible, the believer has a responsibility to search the scriptures to see for themselves if what they are being told is true. Please know that I'm not trying to be rude. I am simply challenging you to search the scriptures for the truth. I can share scripture with you about what the bible teaches on homosexuality, but unless you search the scriptures for yourself, how are you going to know what I'm telling you is true? How do you even know if what your friend told you is true unless you search the scriptures?

I don't know if you read the bible or not, or if you do, how much you've read of it, but if you've not read it at all and need help finding specific verses on God's view of sexual immorality, I would be happy to share those with you. I'm sure others would be happy to help also.

I am going to do everything in my power to continue praying for you that God will break this open.

"For by grace are ye saued, through faith, and that not of your selues: it is the gift of God:"

Ephesians

Msconnie, may the Spirit (truth) grace you with HIS wisdom and HIS understanding.

Very FEW understand the kingdom or heaven or HEAVEN or THE GOSPEL or the good news.

WHERE DOES GOD DWELL?

Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for behold, the kingdom of God IS WITHIN YOU.

1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God DWELLETH in you?

1 Kings 8:27 But will God indeed DWELL ON THE EARTH? behold the HEAVEN and HEAVEN OF HEAVENS cannot contain THEE; how much less this HOUSE (TEMPLE) that I have builded?

Hebrews 3:6 For Christ is a Son over his own HOUSE; whose HOUSE WE ARE....

Hebrews 9:1-2 .....WE have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the THRONE ( Isaiah 66:1) of the majesty in the HEAVENS; (YOU)

(vs 2) A minister of the sanctuary, and TRUE TABERNACLE, which the Lord pitched and not man.

Psalms 148:4 Praise him, YE HEAVEN OF HEAVENS...

Matthew 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in HEAVEN....

Hebrews 12:23

Romans 8:29

Colossians 1:27 .....CHRIST IN YOU

You never die if ye are born of the SPIRIT you just change bodies.

1 Corinthians 15:51-58

Good morning brother Jesse!

Salvation is eternal unto life at the foot of the cross and we must know that place by our original repentance experience yet not laying aside the grace that God had for us as he turned our minds toward Him as he led us to His place of repentance, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Hope all is well your way, good this way. Keep the faith!

Carleton

Sherry,

You will not find the phrase "Once saved, always saved" in the bible. But that does not mean that salvation is not permanent. There are a couple of verses in Hebrews that seem to indicate that salvation can be lost, but if you understand who the book was written to and what was taking place at that time, you can better understand that it's not talking about saved individuals losing their salvation.

I would encourage you to do some research on what it would cost a Hebrew/Jewish person to denounce Judaism and surrender their life to Christ. It would cost them everything. They would be disowned by their own family, they would be kicked out of their temple, society would not accept them, and they wouldn't be allowed to get a job. It's still the same today.

Hebrews 6:4 seems to indicate that a person can lose their salvation, but that's not the case. It's not talking about saved believers losing their salvation. It's talking about Jews who were part of the crowd that were following along with the teachings and being enlightened to the truth, but never taking that next step in surrendering to Christ. An enlightened person does not mean they are saved. We have many people in our churches today that are being enlightened to the truth, but still haven't surrendered their lives to Christ. They are in church every week but they are not saved. And many of them do eventually walk away. They are not losing their salvation because they never were saved.

You see, there were many Hebrew people following along with the teaching. They were being "enlightened" to the truth. The problem is they never surrendered their life to Christ because of what it would cost them.

I believe in the permanency of salvation because I know that salvation is a work of God, not man. It is God who saves us, and it is God who keeps us saved. If we say we have eternal life, but also believe it can be lost, is it really eternal?

Good day brother Richard, currently working here with the hands and by the sweat of the brow (it was easier when I was your age) but still it is good. Keep the faith!

Carleton

These are some of the verses some people use to defer them from good works.

Ephesians 2:8-9. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Then just reading the next verse shows we are the Lords workmanship to good works and we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 4:21-32. If so be that ye have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:

That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

Neither give place to the devil.

Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Hello Sherry, I am sure there will be some scriptures coming forward from brethren today with your questions. Brother Chris and I had a discussion kind of related to your question when I gave an experience on a death sin and my restoration. Currently our discussion would be found on page four and finishing towards the end of page three. I hope you find the answers that you are wanting.

Carleton