Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | Matthew 7:21 ¶ "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 7:21 ¶ "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. |
Bible Question:
Greetings! This is my first question and it is one that has plagued me a long time... If a person receives Christ and believes he was saved though he spends the rest of his life in defiance, and ignoring God, is this person truly saved? I have looked through the Bible for Scripture and I have discussed this question with many other Christians... perhaps someone has found better answers in the Bible to this question than I have. |
Bible Answer: Dear MickysMom, Good question, and welcome to the Forum! Let's start with Lord, Lord; Mathew 7:21 Jesus says many will come to Him saying Lord Lord having done the works of God and performing miracles and Jesus will tell them He never knew them. So some will appear to be Christians due to good works right? Let's look at Romans 3:27 - Paul says where is boasting about keeping the law, essentialy, and then is boasting of works? Then he says no but by a law of faith... You ever heard of once saved always saved? You ever heard of by faith alone by grace alone? These concepts come from reading Romans, the whole book. And these things are true, our salvation is not conditional on whether or not we are able to keep from sinning but on the grace of God who saved us. You raise a most interesting and troublesome point however because there are several schools of thought on how what you are talking about works, the processes that is, and it most of it comes from scripture. So far I have talked about Paul and what he taught on the concept of what is called that one's salvation cannot be canceled out by a next sin, or a series of sin. You have to factor in though that Paul does talk about the process of sanctification whereby you willl visibly get better at not sinning and get closer and closer to being like Christ in your actions. According to Jesus it is possible to do good things like miracles and not make it in, but according to Paul there is not a possiblity of making it in if you are not saved by faith alone, by grace alone, and your works, as he agrees with Jesus is not the measure of your savedness for lack of a better term. Now, let's turn to John's writtings - he sets forth a different concept about being saved and what that consists of than Paul, he does not contradict Paul ever, but sets forth a kind of standard of what a confessing Christians should look like and act like. Let's go to I, II, and III John. There are a number of things to see here. First let's start with I John 2; 1)Do not love the world if any loves the world the Father is not in him. I John 3; 2)Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness and no one who abides in Him sins and no one born of God practices sins. 3)Whoever does not help his brother who is in need does not love God. 4)Do not believe every spirit only those who confess Jesus are of God. II John; 5)Whoever does not acknowledge Jesus as coming in the flesh is not of God. III John; 6)The one who does evil has not seen God. Partial Quote, John MacArthur Study Bible; Fruit Proofs of Authentic Faith Love for God Repentance From sin Genuine Humility Devotion to God's Glory Continual Prayer Selfless Love Separation from the World Obedient Living Hunger for God's Word Transformation of Life The good tree brings forth good fruit and the bad tree brings forth bad fruit, by their fruits you shall know them. There is the possiblity that a person can be saved and be fallen for a protracted period of time, or go back and forth, but at some point before they die if they are really saved, God will convict them and they will turn around, repent and walk holy in Christ Jesus and not live that way anymore. Hope This Helped, Tamara |