The distinction of the believer is not that we are perfect in keeping the commandments, but that we do not practice an ongoing lifestyle of sin.
When we do fail we hate that we did and confess to be cleansed. Remember David, "the apple of God's eye" was tormented over his own sin until he confessed? He even prayed that God would reveal to him unknown sin. And then there was the consequence of his son who came out of that sin was taken from him. He accepted the consequences after grieving over the illness of that child but rose to accept God's will when the child died.
We are sinful people in our flesh with the power in Christ to resist. Sometimes we are weak and stubborn and do not confess until the consequences become too much for us. Christ's blood had to cover our sin to be in the presence of God. No one will come before God with their own righteousness, it is the righteousness of Christ in us.
Also remember when we die only our Spirit goes to heaven, our body is left behind because it is sinful flesh. When God takes His children in the rapture he must change our bodies for them to enter His presence.
1 Corinthians 15:50-52 "50 Now I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.…"
Those who think they are sinless are walking in pride and are fleshly. There must be a denial of the real self when someone thinks they never sin again after they are born again.
God commanded His children to "confess to one another", to confess to Him to be cleansed. And, He promised discipline to those who will not confess.
James 5:15-16 "…15 And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail. "
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?…"
Sometimes the consequences of God's discipline are life long problems. Not all lifelong problems are because of sin but some are. For the obedient believer lifelong problems are God's way of strengthening us to become more holy and less focused on this world.
1 James 1:2-8 "2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."
Never listen to those who would discourage you into believing that your sin has lost the salvation you didn't earn. Listen to the warnings to repent. If you have lived a continual lifestyle of sin without sensing any guilt for it then you may not have ever been saved.
God's salvation is simple and easy, that is admit you are sinful and need Christ, believe that He can and will cleanse and save you and He will.
Anyone who attempts to discourage you by placing "works" on the table as a means of salvation are preaching another gospel. Ignore them and carry on to trust Christ with your life.
We are HIS workmanship, all we have to do is believe Him. He does all the rest of 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 ought to submit to God when He disciplines us, that will bring spiritual and emotional growth. A blessing that cannot be described in words. The sense that we are His and He WILL work in us is worthy of praise toward Him.
If you are following Calvin you are not following Christ. If you are speaking of Calvin more than you speak of Christ then you are not honoring Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:3-5 "…3 for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man? 4 For when one of you says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men? 5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? "
Psalm 118:8-9
"It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes."
Matthew 15:9
"In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
Matthew 15:14
"14 Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
Calvin may have left the Catholic church, but he took with him many of the beliefs of that system and persecuted believers who did not adhere to his Catholic doctrine.
Please do not come to argue with me about this matter. I am a former Catholic and know too much to be influenced by those who have never been in the Catholic church.
May the Lord show those reading this the importance of resisting the pressure from others to join with Calvinism. May those who are captivated by Calvinism go to God in prayer to see how demonic this system is and how it has overtaken many churches today.
And may those who are entrenched in any other system of following a man realize the deception and return to Christ.
There is no hate in one who is saddened by the evil that is in this world. It is the love that drives Christians to warn people. Even a secular would shout at someone and grab hold of them to keep from throwing themselves off a bridge when they are distraught.
It is hate that cares nothing about the mess people make of their lives that lead them into hell. Those who empower selfishness and evil are hateful, not those who try to snatch the lost from the fire.
As you have probably already heard somewhere, "correction" is the new hate." To dare to correct someone who is ruining their life or the life of someone else is determined as hatred.
Since "everyone does what is right in their own eyes" in this generation, it is unthinkable that anyone would correct someone else. Those who rage the loudest are those who claim others do.
Since believers know the end of this life and the coming judgment they are bolder than those who are merely focused on personal happiness and worldly acceptance.
There is no need for a believer in Christ to rage about anything. We know the truth, we speak the truth and because we are secure in our walk with Christ, we have no aversion to correction or attacks. If they come we pray and allow God to be our defender.
Proverbs 29:8-10 "…8 Mockers inflame a city, but the wise turn away anger. 9 If a wise man goes to court with a fool, there will be raving and laughing with no resolution. 10 Men of bloodshed hate a blameless man, but the upright care for his life.…"
Proverbs 29:10-12 "…10 Men of bloodshed hate a blameless man, but the upright care for his life. 11 A fool vents all his anger, but a wise man holds it back. 12 If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials will be wicked.…"
Proverbs 18:2
"A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion."
There is a practice of humans to hide what is really inside by adhering to social cultural expectations. When someone can be thrown into a rage easily over a perceived slight, we know that the anger that emerges is only the tip of the iceberg. Deeply inside there is a far more intense rage that we cannot see, but God can see.
No one expels from their mouth something that is not embedded within their soul already. Whatever emerges from the mouth or expressed on the face is a small portion of the mass that resides inside of them.
If we find ourselves easily enraged by disagreement, then we know there is an anger inside that must be dealt with. Everyone has weak moments, Lord knows I have had mine. However, when this is a common practice continually, a sort of lifestyle of domination over others, then we know there is anger in the hidden soul.
When someone is continually angry, demonstrating a lack of joy then there is also lack of trust and faith in Christ. When Christ is our focus there is no reason to control or intimidate others.
Christ gives His children a measure of calmness that is constant, a steadiness. When we have a weak moment in life we are sorry we did, make it right through confession and carry on to grow a little more. We have all had to do this no matter how Spiritual we think we are, we fail at times, but it is not a continual lifestyle of over the top sensitiveness to correction or disagreement.
When our heart is bent toward Christ we will want Him to search our souls for the flaws that need fixing. We love to have more control over our emotions as well as a greater degree of trust in His ability to answer on our behalf. There is no need to answer every attack or retaliate in some way to make others "get it."
2 Corinthians 4:16-18. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
Romans 8:26-27
“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”
Does anyone else notice something very strange in family dynamics?
When we are believers in Christ and love to speak and write about Him, there are "Christian family" who appear embarrassed and will not respond when the subject is about Christ.
It is a conundrum, a confusing puzzle, that supposedly born again family members cannot speak openly about Christ, even withdrawing from us as though we did something wrong in wanting to delve into the principles of the Bible.
Are they so unsure of their own belief system, so filled with the world that they are embarrassed and conflicted when confronted with truth? Perhaps not even recognizing truth when it greets them head on, they shrink from any discussion at all without discomfort or even worse anger and rage.
I am meeting more people who are confused about the reactions of other "Christians" to an honest discussion of Biblical matters. Perhaps there are so many snowflakes in the church today that they know they will melt into a puddle on the floor if anyone were to disagree with them.
SAD, very SAD!!!!
All those who are born again will overcome. They are covered in the blood that paid for their sin on the cross. God never revokes a promise, nor is any part of our salvation dependent on our own merits.
We cannot pay for our own sins with our blood as He did for us. How could anyone think that merely trying to be a good person would add to the shedding of Christ's blood in our salvation.
Ephesians 2:8-9
"8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and [a]that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."
One does not become born again by being a better person nor does one keep salvation by being a better person. All our sins are laid upon Christ when we trust in Him. He does all the work after that.
Matthew 26:28
"For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."
There would be no reason for the blood to cover our sin if we no longer had sin. The blood covers the sin of believers who have trusted in Christ. He paid it all, we have nothing to add to what He did. That would be a salvation by our own works.
Ephesians 1:7
"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,"
We have the choice to obey or disobey even after salvation, but we no longer have the choice to walk away from Christ. Believers can grieve the Holy Spirit Who lives in them by disobedience. But that Spirit of God never leaves us.
Ephesians 4:29-31 "…29 Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, outcry and slander, along with every form of malice.…"
In the Ephesians passage God is speaking to believers who are born again and remain born again.
I am reminded by this post that during the holocaust the officials saw the horrific responses of the guards who had to kill the Jews. The officials knew that the guards were having emotional responses that caused them to not be able to carry out their killing. When they had to murder people face to face day after day it was having serious psychological affects on them, making their army weaker and unable to carry out their duty to kill.
In response to this realization the authorities devised a way the guards could kill without seeing their victims, therefore developing the gas chamber in which the guards could administer lethal poison to the people without seeing or hearing their screams.
This is basically why abortion has been so widely accepted, the mothers don't have to see their dead babies, the screams in the womb or afterward when the body is placed in a dumpster. On the other hand one has to wonder of the monstrous wickedness in a doctor who does the taring apart of the infant as its mouth cries out in pain while its limbs are being torn apart.
There have been abortion doctors affected by these monstrous thoughts who could no longer do it. They were the ones with a conscience and a measure of compassion. The there are those who keep on doing it day in and day out every year, piling up their bank account while living in mansions off of the tiny little backs of dead human beings.
I praise God that one day there will be justice as I pray for the salvation for those doctors who are influenced and dominated by the devil. May the Lord open their eyes to their own evil and bring them to repentance.
Thank you Trudi for this story, it is the extreme that brings us to the logical conclusion.
Trudi Gretsinger said this:
READ THIS NEW YORK!!!
I love this story.....never gets old.....So much truth in this....
A worried woman went to her gynecologist and said:.....
Doctor, I have a serious problem and desperately need your help! My baby is not even 1 year old and I'm pregnant again. I don't want kids so close together.
So the doctor said:............Okay and what do you want me to do?
She said:........I want you to end my pregnancy, and I'm counting on your help with this.
The doctor thought for a little, and after some silence he said to the lady:.......
I think I have a better solution for your problem. It's less dangerous for you too........
She smiled, thinking that the doctor was going to accept her request. Then he continued:.....
You see, in order for you not to have to take care of 2 babies at the same time, let's kill the one in your arms. This way, you could rest some before the other one is born. If we're going to kill one of them, it doesn't matter which one it is. There would be no risk for your body if you chose the one in your arms.
The lady was horrified and said:......
No doctor! How terrible! It's a crime to kill a child!......I agree, the doctor replied......
But you seemed to be OK with it, so I thought maybe that was the best solution. The doctor smiled, realizing that he had made his point. He convinced the mom that there is no difference in killing a child that's already been born and one that's still in the womb. The crime is the same!
