CHRISTIAN SALVATION PART 2

NO FORGIVENESS IN SINS

In the last article we examined the necessity of having to keep ourselves in the love of God lest we negate a genuine salvation as well as the hope of eternal life.

This article will more focus upon the forgiveness of sins and how it is the love of God which covers the multitude of our sins, not as a cloak for ongoing sin, but rather a cover in the sense that manifest righteousness does away with all sin.

The reason "manifest righteousness" or the "love of God" covers sin is found in the combination of firstly God's mercy in being willing to freely forgive our past rebellion and faithlessness, and secondly, the union we have with God in the establishment of our hearts in Christ. We see this concept patterned in the words of David...

Psa 32:1  A Psalm of David, Maschil. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whosesin is covered.
Psa 32:2  Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
...
Psa 32:11  Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that areupright in heart.

Take note that David makes a connection between those "whose transgression is covered, whose sin is covered" with "in whose spirit there is no guile" and  "are upright in heart." There is no forgiveness without a corresponding transformation of a wicked heart full of guile into an upright heart in which there is no guile. This is so important to understand and it is why God reckons or imputes "faith" as righteousness.

Rom 4:5  But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Rom 4:6  Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
Rom 4:7  Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
Rom 4:8  Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

We don't "work" in the sense of simply "moving" in order to be reckoned us just by God. Rather we keep ourselves in the love of God through which we manifest uprightness of heart. Thus it is God working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus. Our "movement" or "work" is simply a manifestation of God's work upon our heart.

Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 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.

Faith works by love, love works no ill, thus faith upholds the righteousness of the law.

Gal 5:6  For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

Rom 13:10  Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Rom 3:31  Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

Keeping ourselves in the love of God is inseparable from a faith that works by love, therefore the forgiveness of sin is clearly premised upon the principle of the manifestation of an upright heart. This is why the sentiment we find in Romans 3:31 is followed by the sentiment of God reckoning faith as righteousness in Romans 4:5. A faith which is inclusive of steps (Rom 4:12) and a trusting in God (Rom 4:20-21).

This is all so simple, it is the simplicity of Christ which is in accord with the doctrine according to godliness.

1Ti 6:3  If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;

How could the Church System get it all so wrong? They have perverted grace from being the manifest power of God working upon an upright heart unto an outworking of genuine righteousness, into some kind of "positional salvation" with a cloak for ongoing defilement.

So dear reader, which will you follow? A cover requisite of a manifest righteousness, or some kind of theological cloak for ongoing manifest unrighteousness?

Carefully reflect upon the following words by James and Peter...

1Pe 4:8  And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

Jas 5:20  Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

Please consider.

Scott

CHRISTIAN SALVATION PART 1

KEEP YOURSELVES IN THE LOVE OF GOD

In the the Epistle of Jude we find a very prudent statement.

Jud 1:21  Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

Jude implores the read to "keep themselves" in the "love of God." The opposite, of course, would be "not keeping ourselves" in the "love of God"

Obviously the "keeping ourselves" is something that we must do, it is not something that another does for us.

Jude connects the "keeping ourselves" to "looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." Compare that sentiment to the sentiment of Paul in Romans 2 where he speaks how God is going to render to each person according to their deeds...

Rom 2:6  Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
Rom 2:7  To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
Rom 2:8  But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
Rom 2:9  Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
Rom 2:10  But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
Rom 2:11  For there is no respect of persons with God.

So with Paul we have "eternal life" to those  who "patiently continue in well doing." So we know that "well doing" is connected to "remaining in the love of God." Now take a look at this...

2Th 3:3  But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.
2Th 3:4  And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you.
2Th 3:5  And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.

So here we have the Lord faithfully establishing us by directing our hearts into the love of God, something in which we are to keep ourselves. By keeping ourselves, we patiently continue in well doing as we patiently wait upon Christ.

What are we waiting upon Christ for? The answer is His mercy in granting us eternal life, a hope yet to be reaped.

Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
Tit 1:3  But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;

Eternal life is for those whom truly love God, those whom endure temptation and yet remain faithful. Very much like a human marriage, faithfulness, fidelity and love.

Jas 1:12  Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

Those whom love God obviously "keep themselves" in the love of God, that love being "manifest righteousness" shed abroad into the heart by the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost given to all those whom obey God.

Rom 5:5  And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Act 5:32  And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.

Is not the New Covenant a covenant of the love of God written upon our minds and in our hearts?

Heb 10:16  This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

...which leads us right back to the mercy of God...

Heb 10:17  And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

Jud 1:21  Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

Dear reader, can you see how genuine salvation is a manifest state of having been saved FROM sin, to have been delivered from evil itself, to have been established in the love of God, something in which we keep ourselves in remaining yielded to God's influence whereby we love both God and our neighbour with all our mind, soul and body.

So let's all examine ourselves in all honesty and with due diligence. Are we keeping ourselves in the love of God, have we even entered into it to begin with?

Please consider.

Scott.

Truth Manifest

The complexity, beauty and order inherent within the natural systems of this world clearly testify to the reality of the Creator/Intelligent Designer.

Common sense/logic testifies to the reality that a morality premised on loving God and loving our fellow man (righteousness) is necessary for the well being of every individual.

It is in the above context that we have the testimony of Jesus, a preacher of righteousness, testifying that God requires all individuals to repent and forsake all known evil (every self serving deed and thought done apart from a spirit of love) lest they perish permanently in the judgement to come.

We can ridicule such things and write them off in our mind, or we can heed such advice, reflect upon it, and yield ourselves to righteousness and walk in purity and thus find peace. A peace found through being reconciled to the Creator having our past misdeeds/rebellion forgiven.

To ignore the call of God entails a life of vanity, going from one project to another, one self justification to another, one pleasure to another, all on a road that ultimately leads to a death with no peace, a death where one is faced with the fact that all they did in this life was vanity and that they lose. The is why Jesus contended that people lay up their treasure in heaven, ie. serve the greater reality as opposed to temporal vanity.

All is vanity when one rejects and refuses to abide wholeheartedly in the truth, the truth of love out of a pure heart manifest through an abiding walk in the Spirit of God all the days of our lives.

Love works no ill. Love is a fulfillment of righteousness.

1Jn 3:7  Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
1Jn 3:8  He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
1Jn 3:9  Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
1Jn 3:10  In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
1Jn 3:11  For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

The Doctrine According to Godliness

Points of Fact

1.    Peter teaches  that Christians have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (2Pet 1:3-4).
2.   Paul teaches that Christian’s have crucified their flesh with the passions and desires (Gal 5:24) 
3.  James teaches that men are drawn into sin by the lusts of their flesh (Jam 1:14-15).
4.  Peter teaches that those who suffer with Christ have ceased from sin and that they no longer walk according to the lusts of men (1Pet 4:1-2) 
5. Paul teaches that if we walk after flesh we will die but if we, through the Spirit, put to death the deeds of the body then we will live (Rom 8:13).

Question

How is it possible for a Christian to claim that he is saved and yet at the same time yield to the lusts of their flesh in an unlawful manner? 

A professing Christian who engages in such behaviour is obviously violating all the above mentioned points which pertain to the actual walk of a Christian.

Jesus did clearly state that if you sin you are a slave to sin (Joh 8:34). Jesus did also say that He came to set people free indeed (Joh 8:36) from their sin.

Can one be free indeed if they are still yielding to the lusts of their flesh and sinning? The plain statements of Jesus clearly refute such a position.

Paul was in perfect agreement with Jesus on this matter for he taught that we are slaves to whom we obey whether sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness (Rom 6:16). There was no third option presented where the two somehow mix, yet most people sincerely believe that the two do mix.

Immediately after teaching that we are slaves to whom we obey Paul taught in the very next verse that obedience from the heart (Rom 6:17) was the method by which people had been set free from serving sin and had thus become slaves of righteousness (Rom 6:18).

There are many people today, who will read the above and deny it because of the implications it brings in regards to their own theology. Instead of addressing the very specific and simple points made they will, instead, brush it off with rhetoric and appeal to other isolated portions of scripture in an attempt to dismiss what the Bible plainly teaches.

I have found through experience that many will portray the theme expounded above and imply that somehow it translates to “saving oneself.” The fallacy here is that the dynamic of yielding to God is no more the saving of oneself than Noah was saving himself when he yielded to God’s instruction and built the ark.

There are many today who sincerely believe that God “makes” you do everything and that to imply that YOU have to actually do something is an infringement on the sovereignty and glory of God. Such a position is pure nonsense. Ask yourself as to whether Noah was glorying in himself by yielding to God through the action of building the ark? Of course he was not, and neither is a Christian who willingly walks after the Spirit in humble obedience to their Creator.

A vast system of error has completely overtaken what is nominally called Christianity today

The plain and simple teachings of Jesus have been supplanted by a vast system of theology which removes all human responsibility along with any fear of judgment.

The  doctrine of Christ is according to godliness (1Ti6:3) and whoever sins and does not abide in this doctrine does not have God (2 Joh 1:9). One must abide in this doctrine to have the Father and the Son (2Joh 1:9) and this is why Jesus would teach the following…

Joh 15:3  Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

Joh 15:4  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Joh 15:6  If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

Joh 15:7  If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

Joh 15:8  Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

Joh 15:9  As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

Joh 15:10  If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

Joh 15:11  These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

Joh 15:12  This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

John mirrored this sentiment when he wrote...

1Jn 2:3  And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

1Jn 2:4  He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

1Jn 2:5  But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

1Jn 2:6  He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

1Jn 2:7  Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.

1Jn 2:8  Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.

1Jn 2:9  He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.

1Jn 2:10  He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

God Bless.

Scott.