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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Is the quote presumptuous? | John 6:44 | Zsuzsi | 123532 | ||
Hi Knucklehead, Satan does bother with everyone, saved or unsaved, he even bothered with Jesus so why would we be different? I cannot tell you why he does it apart from that he hates God and all things that are from Him, but speaking from personal experience I can tell that he does tempt Christians as well. Unfortunately we can't tell him where he "should" move on to... :-) In my opinion, salvation depends solely on whether one is reborn in the Spirit or not (John 3:1-21) - and in rebirth, I believe, our whole inner nature changes from 'sinful' to 'righteous'. By being reborn, we get the same Spirit whom Jesus Himself had (Galatians 4:6), and as He did, in our inner self we delight in doing His will (eg. Romans 7:22), and we call Him and know Him as 'our Father'. Even Jesus is not ashamed of calling us His brothers/sisters (Hebrews 2:12). If we live by this Spirit, we will be "in" but not "of" the world - this is what Jesus prayed for in John 17. Yet our mortal flesh is unredeemed while we are on earth (c.v. Romans 8:23), and it 'wars' against the Spirit of God in us (Romans 7:23). This is where Satan can attack; we must live by the Spirit in us and not obey the lusts of our flesh (Galatians 5:16). If we sin, that is because we have not obeyed the Spirit of God living in us. But that does not stop us from being reborn - it simply means we have temporarily acted against our own reborn selves, which is the same as acting against God, hence the guilt and consequences etc.. (Read Romans 7, esp v 9-25). We also know that God has defeated Satan and will strenghten and support us to do good (2Peter 2:9, Romans 8:11, etc), and we can count on the sympathy of Jesus when we are tempted because He knows what it feels like (Hebrews 4:15). Therefore Satan has no power over us - unless we allow him to have some. So we are actually told to rejoice in temptations (James 1:2) because we can be sure of victory. Unless we ourselves choose otherwise, of course. And if we do, we have still gained the knowledge of how dependant we actually are on God. If we sin, God is gracious and forgives (1John 1:9). So sinning does not take our birthright: we are still His children, and He still loves us. I usually say to people struggling with guilt that God foresaw all the sins we would commit before He chose to save us; so if He loved us yesterday, He loves us today too, no matter what we have done or will do tomorrow. This is why we can feel safe in our position before Christ. Maybe I am misinterpreting things, but it seems to me that the Scriptures are not saying we are to try to be good because we are afraid of what would happen if we weren't, or because we want any rewards, not even because of our appreciation of the sacrifice Jesus made for us; but because we are One with Him and simply can't do otherwise (1John 3:9). We are not our own any more: we are God's (1Cor 6:19). This is a wondrous thing: we can try to live 'good' lives even before we are reborn, that is what many people claim to do today - but that again is something like the young man who came to Jesus, saying he's been doing everything God commanded all his life but obviously he was still missing something: although he was prepared to obey God as a remote servant, he was not prepared to be reborn and completely owned by Him as a child (Mark 10:17-21). I believe it is the initmate oneness with Him, the sweet Father-child relationship between Him and us that makes us holy, not our own attempts to act righteously. There is only one sin that will not be forgiven: the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (eg. Mark 3:29), which I believe is "making Him out to be a liar" by claiming we walk in His light while we actually consciously walk in darkness (1John 1:10). That is a sin we can never repent of, since we deny repentance itself - neither will God forgive. Neither the generosity of the Father nor the sacrifice of Jesus "entitles" anyone to sin. Abusing the freedom which is our birthright is what Paul repeatedly refers to as "God forbid!". Once we are reborn, faith or works as a basis for our salvation loses meaning. Salvation is what God gives to us, not what we give to ourselves. All God wants is a willingness to completely surrender our lives to Him and enjoy the "fullness in Christ" already on earth and in the life to come. Read also Ephesians 3:14-21. This is what I believe... Hope it made sense... :-) God bless you, Zsuzsi |
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2 | Is the quote presumptuous? | John 6:44 | CDBJ | 123536 | ||
Hi Zsuzsi, I enjoyed reading your personal profile. It is amazing how the Lord is building His church and calling His chosen ones out from the multitudes by revealing the truth about Jesus. Matthew 16:15-17 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? [16] And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. [17] And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. Have a great day, CDBJ |
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