2 Corinthians 5:16-17 "…16 So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:…"
No one wins or loses salvation based on works.
God disciplines those He loves, He does not toss them away for not being good enough, no one is good enough ever.
Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises everyone He receives as a son.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"
Hebrews 13:5 "Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”
Those who believe one's salvation is based on their performance do not understand that we are Christ's workmanship. When we trust Christ He does all the work in us.
Ephesians 2:10
"10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
We do not do works to become saved or to stay saved, we do them because the Holy Spirit in us compels us. We love to obey Him but sometimes we are weak children, that's why God told believers :
1 John 1:9 "9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Romans 7 explains these principles very well. Our bodies do not go to heaven when we die because they are sinful, but our Spirit goes there. Sin cannot go into the presence of God, so at the resurrection our bodies will be changed from corruptible to incorruptible to be able to go into the presence of God.
There are no sinless people who are born again, but when we sin we will be disciplined to return to obedience. Those who will not obey will lose rewards in heaven.
1 Corinthians 3:14-16 "…14 If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as if through the flames. 16 Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?…"
Those who are interpreting the Bible to believe they can lose their salvation are observing horizontally rather than virtically, they are basing their beliefs on what they see around them rather than God's Word.
There are people who do walk away, but they were never born again.
1 John 2:19-23
19 They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.
21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.
23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also."
Many people will claim to be "Christians" but were never born again. They Lord says this about these people:
"Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many [a]miracles?’
23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’"
I count this passage in Matthew as the most frightening verse in the Bible, those who are expecting to get into heaven will be turned away at the gate because they were pretenders, learning all the right words, acting all the right ways but never were born again. In their minds they were trusting their own goodness and works to get them in, Christ was a means to an end, not the love of their life.
Have you ever experienced a friendship in which the only reason the person was friendly to you was because they wanted something out of you. This is what works salvation entails. Those who do good things for self glory and the perks they think they can get out of God. They want safety, material wealth, praise from others, but they do not want Christ.
Matthew 15:7-9 …7 You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: 8 ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 9 They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’”…
We know from the Bible that there will be more pretenders in the last days than there will be authentically born again believers. The authentic believers are coming out of the modern churches, resistant to foolishness and hypocrisy, desiring the pure Word of God untainted by the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment