Christ Seals Those Whom He has Saved

A lot of people think they can lose their salvation, that their salvation is based on how good they can keep their own lives. This is not the gospel.

Jesus Christ required only two things to be born-again, that is to confess we are sinners and then to believe Him when He said He paid for our sin all we have to do it trust in Him.

Acts 3:19

"19 Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;"

Jesus Christ changes us, we do not change ourselves.

Christ comes to live in us, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise as a Guarantee of our Salvation. All we do is believe Him, confess and begin to trust in Him, He does everything else. He changes us into an entirely new person. The old person is gone, we no longer think the same way we did before.

2 Corinthians 5:17

"17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new [a]creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."

Ephesians 1:13-14

"13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, 14 who is the first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory."

The Holy Spirit does not hop in and out of us because we have sinned. God disciplines those who belong to Him, He does not throw them away.

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 every son He receives.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"

If you are trusting in yourself to remain saved then you have not trusted in Christ Who paid the penalty for our sin.

Don't let anyone deceive you that you must be good enough in your own strength and power. This thinking causes many false converts to become proud of themselves and many walk away because they cannot keep up the pretense of being good.

No one is good, only Christ is good. When we mess up as His children we eventually confess that sin and are cleansed from it. God knows we have no ability to keep ourselves cleansed, Christ in us is continually cleansing us and growing us in holiness. Depend on Him.

We do sin but we don't keep on sinning.

1 John 3:8-10 "…8 The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother."

Anyone who claims to be a Christian and fights to defend that sin, have never been born again, they are pretenders.

Those who sin and are ashamed of it, confess it and turn to Christ to be cleansed are born of God. These are His children.

Miracles Every Day

If someone says to you that they went to heaven and saw Jesus, be very careful, do not believe them. A born-again believer has no need to go to heaven and see the Savior. This is a trick of the devil to distract people from faith in Christ through false miracles placed in the mind.

The born-again believer walks by faith not by sight.

2 Corinthians 5:6-8

"Therefore we are always confident, although we know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.…"

Romans 8:24

"For in this hope we were saved; but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he can already see?"

1 Corinthians 13:12

"Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."

2 Corinthians 4:18

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Those who are fixated on seeing miracles all the time lack faith.

Hebrews 11:1-4

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible."

Believers see miracles every day, the planets are held together by God's hand, we wake up every day because God determines our days. We are given strength by the Holy Spirit to walk through difficult times remaining faithful to His principles. All of this is His miracle. Sometimes we see what others might think are bigger miracles. But every day is filled with God's hand, big or small.

Hallelujah!!!

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Born-Again Believers Confess and are Cleansed Regularly

All born-again believers sin, they are disciplined by God because they belong to God. Those who do not belong to God are bastard children and God does not discipline those.

Hebrews 125-7 "…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 every son He receives.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?"

Hebrews 12:7-9 "…7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?…"

There would be no need for discipline of a born-again believer if they never sin. Not only do we sin but we hate it when we do and do not rest until we have confessed it to be cleansed of that sin. 1 John 1:9 was written for believers.

1 John 1:8-10 "…8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us."

I fear for those believers who think they do not sin!!! We need to be apologizing to our spouses on a regular basis for snarky attitudes or for failing to see a need in them. There is no way to have a good marriage with someone so prideful they cannot admit they do wrong from time to time.

I also fear for marriages in which someone fell dramatically, even hating that they did, coming to ask forgiveness only to be met with arrogance saying things like; "how could you do such a thing." Anyone who acts like this toward a repentant person is sinning in their response to a broken heart.

Galatians 1:1-2 "1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him with a spirit of gentleness. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2Carry one another burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.…"

No born-again believer who sins will lose their salvation. God made them into a new creation, they can never go back to the old again. It was a work of God, not anything we do or did to earn it or to keep it.

Let me liken it to a butterfly as others have done before. In the cacoon lives a worm, it is in bondage to that cocoon. When the time is right the butterfly is fully developed and leaves the cocoon, that worm is now a butterfly and can never go back to being a worm again.

Since we cannot save ourselves, we cannot change ourselves and we cannot keep ourselves, the Holy Spirit comes into us giving all we need through His direction. He is the One the Father looks to in us and declares, "this one belongs to Christ."

John 6:37-38 "37 Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me.…"

John 6:39

And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of those He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day.

John 6:65

Then Jesus said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless the Father has granted it to him."

John 10:28

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand.

John 17:2

For You granted Him authority over all people, so that He may give eternal life to all those You have given Him.

John 17:6

I have revealed Your name to those You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours; You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.

John 17:9

I ask on their behalf. I do not ask on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those You have given Me; for they are Yours.

John 17:24

Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, that they may see the glory You gave Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

Seems clear to me that when the Father looks at a born-again believer He accounts our sin to Christ, nothing of ourselves can save us.

However, and this is a big "however", Those who think they can sin freely, even boasting they can sin all they want and God just looks the other way, even defending their right to sin, have never been born again. Anyone born of God hates sin, even if they fall from weakness when temptation comes, they hate it, are convicted by the Holy Spirit Who lives in them, and eventually will confess that sin to be cleansed.

1 John 3:8-10 "…8 The one who practices sin is of the devil because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother."

Practicing a lifestyle of sin, justifying it, and defending it is evidence that the one who still loves their sin has never been born again.

Falling into sin is not evidence that we are not born-again, remaining in sin while enjoying it without conscience is evidence that someone has never trusted Christ and is probably a pretender. The church is full of these in our day of apostasy. Many preachers in the pulpits today fit into this category of pretenders.

There are many people today who want a "safe" religion but do not want Christ. They tend to believe things they wish to believe without regard to whether or not it is truth, as long as it makes them "feel" good they are all on board with it. Believe me, this is irrational at best, causing people to fight with others defending their "feelings" while scorning the truth, even worse scorning the people of God for daring to speak the truth.

To scorn the people of God who tell the truth is the same as attacking Christ because He lives in them and is guiding their speech and actions.

John 1:9-13 "9 This was the true Light that, coming into the world, enlightens every person. 10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, and yet the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own people did not accept Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God."

Do you want "religions" with its pomp and rituals that make you feel something good, or do you want Christ, willing to suffer for Him?

It's your choice and the choice you make will either send you to hell or to heaven with a Savior Who did it all for you and is preparing a place for you in heaven.

In Crude Times Believers can Remain full of Grace

We are living in crude times, the lack of regard for others leads people to become slovenly in all things.

Our clothing often is a reflection of a lack of respect for others or diligence in respecting them.

Think about it! I wear a hairstyle now that would have been considered messy, but is in style now. I like it because it is easy since I don't have any time to stand in front of a mirror and work on my hair. Not to mention illness makes us old people care less about perfect hair than when we were younger.

Take a look at the jeans people are wearing with rips and tears all up and down the legs and these are the brand new ones people pay big bucks for in the stores. Makes no sense!!!

Perhaps the prosperity of our nation made us tired of looking so tidy, we thought looking like a train wreck was more interesting and much easier but laughably it is not less expensive.

I recall the scriptures that say, "when good would be called bad and bad would be called good", whenever I look around me and see the attitudes, the clothing, and the lack of diligence in all things.

Isaiah 5:20-21 "20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness to light and light to darkness, who replace bitter with sweet and sweet with bitter. 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight."

Since clothing and hair pale in comparison to an eternity in hell, I don't care what clothing people are wearing but I do believe sometimes it is a reflection of a heart that wants to fit in with the world. The important thing to focus on as believers is not the clothing but where people will spend eternity.

Just because eternity is the most important does not mean that clothing is not important at all for the born-again believer. When we look like the world, the world does not take us seriously, but when we are different in all things it may cause the world to take notice and want to know what makes us follow our own way instead of theirs.

It is not true that we have to look and act like the world for the world to like Jesus. We do not want to manipulate people into liking Jesus, we want to speak the truth and allow them to make a choice based on Christ not how we look. We need to be led by the Holy Spirit in all things, even our clothing so that we are not a distraction to the message of the gospel.

Don't ask anyone else how you should dress, ask the Holy Spirit and then do what He says. Then our witness will be what it should be.

Romans 8:26

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words."

Galatians 5:22-23

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

1 Corinthians 6:19

"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,"

Adrian Rogers: Practicing the Presence of God (2247)

THIS is the #1 reason why people hate Christians

Gossip Separates Friends