Results 1 - 2 of 2
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Insufficient grace? | Luke 14:26 | seeking4truth | 101625 | ||
Good verses, Aixen. Can I probe a little bit? (I promise to be gentle.) When I was 12, I was presented the "Roman Road." I would suspect that most of the folks on this forum are familiar with this formula for evangelism. So as I began to understand that my sin and my being a sinner separated me from a holy God, I naturally asked questions. It went sort of like this: "My sin separated me from God because He is holy and pure?" YES, THAT'S RIGHT. "So how do I get myself clean so that I too am holy and pure like God." SON, THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO CLEAN YOURSELF FROM SIN. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. THERE IS ONLY ONE THING THAT CAN CLEAN YOU FROM SIN - THE BLOOD OF JESUS. "But Pastor, don't I have to clean up my act before I can come to Jesus?" NO, SON, YOU CAN'T CLEAN YOURSELF. ALL OF YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS AS FILTHY RAGS IN GOD'S SIGHT. ONLY JESUS BLOOD CAN CLEAN YOU. "Let me see if I understand: God is perfectly holy and righteous. I am a sinner and unclean. There is not ONE thing that I can do to make myself clean before God. All I can do is to trust Jesus?" THAT'S RIGHT, SON. IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU - IT'S ABOUT JESUS. YOU TRUST JESUS AND HE WILL PURIFY YOU. YOUR SINS WILL BE WHITER THAN SNOW. (seeking4truth trusts in Jesus as Lord and Savior) "Wow, Pastor, Jesus has washed me whiter than snow?" THAT'S RIGHT. "Now what do I do?" NOW, SON, YOU NEED TO KEEP YOURSELF CLEAN BY NOT SINNING AND IF YOU SIN, YOU GET YOURSELF CLEANED UP THROUGH CONFESSION AND YOU NEED TO PURIFY YOURSELF AND YOU NEED TO LIVE HOLY AND YOU NEED TO SANCTIFY YOURSELF AND YOU NEED TO... If I could go back 30 years, I would say, "Wait a minute, Pastor, BEFORE I came to Jesus, it was all about HIM and what HE has done. Now that I have come to Jesus, why is it all about me and what *I* must do?" Funny, evangelicals tell folks that they can't possible make themselves pure enough to be acceptable to God or to enter His kingdom. "It is finished!" we say. But after "conversion", the focus dynamically shifts 180 degrees to our standing being completely dependent upon what WE do or don't do. To me, this effectively means that the grace (a gift of God) that is sufficient to initially save us is powerless to keep us clean and pure before God AFTER we become saved. It would seem that "sinners" are saved by grace but that "saints" are perfected (purified) by works. Something smells fishy and fleshly to me. Any thoughts? seeking4truth |
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2 | Insufficient grace? | Luke 14:26 | Aixen7z4 | 101661 | ||
Seeker, God has been good to you. Your situation reminds me of the word he had for the nation of Israel in Ezekiel 16. “When you were born, your umbilical cord wasn't cut. You weren't washed with water to make you clean. You weren't rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloth. No one who saw you felt sorry enough for you to do any of these things. But you were thrown into an open field. You were rejected when you were born. Then I went by you and saw you kicking around in your own blood. I said to you, "Live." “I made you grow like a plant in the field. You grew up, matured, …” Your case, if it is of any comfort to you, unfortunately, your case it not at all unusual. In some cases, believe it or not, it is worse. Some of us got saved all by ourselves, with no one to witness to us or to counsel us personally. We heard the Gospel, of course, but there was often no human help or guidance. We had to struggle for assurance of salvation, and we had to struggle to get our feet under us, and then to grow. Some Christians have a stand-offish and judgmental attitude. They would much prefer to criticize you than to help you. Some believe they have to leave it up to the Holy Spirit and would not even try to get you saved. Baptism, discipleship, learning to do things, some of us have had to accomplish on our own. But we have learned that we were never alone. Behind the dim unknown standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own. And yet I must say that you were correct when you noted that God also uses human instruments. There is always a person here and there, supporting. I now work for a group called Gospel for Asia, and they emphasize the ministry of discipleship. Mentoring is integral to that ministry. The church used to have it, with Barnabas and Paul and Paul and Timothy. The principle was to continue, with the things that one has heard being committed to faithful men, who would be able to teach others also. It is just one of the ways the church has failed. But God’s word cannot fail. When the prophets fail, he will use a donkey. But God himself has been looking out for you, Seeker, and he has kept you seeking. Rest upon his promise that those who seek will find. I say it is not a curse to have the questions you have, but a blessing. When you have answered those questions, you will know more than the rest of us. Talking about the grace of God, don’t you see it. It is not true that you have to do all of those things by yourself. It is God who works in us both to will and to do his good pleasure. We are kept by the power of God and we never lose our salvation, and we never lose the ability to do his will. So, let’s say you have had a hard childhood, spiritually. You should now be stronger for it. I suggest that you look ahead now and not so much backward. Be like Paul and say, “Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”. It was not casually but after consideration that I suggested you can be confident in your salvation. Indeed, it does not depend on your feeling but on whether you did go to him an call on him. For him that comes to him he will in no wise cast out. And whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you have doubts now then go to him and call on him again and be not faithless but believing. Stop doubting and move on. I would thank God for the way he has kept you and the strength you have had to keep on. That is grace. The Lord has taken care of you personally. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet God will not forget you. He has not, so far, and he never will. So go on, my friend. Learn all you can, grow like that plant in the field, and serve the Lord. Stay in the word. Be like the tree planted by the water. Notice that it does not work hard, doing this and that on its own, but it soaks up the word. In time, I would not be surprised if you became a teacher of the word. He giveth more grace, and his grace is sufficient. |
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