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NASB | Luke 8:13 "Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Luke 8:13 "Those on the rocky soil are the people who, when they hear, receive and welcome the word with joy; but these have no firmly grounded root. They believe for a while, and in time of trial and temptation they fall away [from Me and abandon their faith]. |
Subject: Please provide responses to these verses |
Bible Note: Acts 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Of coarse, I do believe this scripture (as in all scripture) and it does not contradict what I was stating. We are commanded to repent, that doesn't deny that God must first grant us the ability to repent. Nor does it imply that those who don't repent won't still be held accountable for their unwillingness to repent. Because both statements are true. One person receives God's mercy the other receives God's wrath, both will glorify God. That to is biblical (See Romans 9) God also commands us to be perfect? There is no way within ourselves that we can obey this command, but it does drive us to the cross of Christ, crying out for mercy. But is any man other than Christ perfect? No, we are not perfect. However, we are perfect in God's eyes because for those who have been given the gift of faith (the elect), he has credited the Righteousness of Christ to our account and will not hold his sins against us. Why? Because he has given us the gift of faith by which we receive His grace. Yes we have faith, but only because God has given it to us. We exercise the gift because we were regenerated and brought to life by His Holy Spirit working in our hearts. The result of begin brought to life by God's Spirit is that we will be convicted of our sins and will repent. These things are all a result of God's gifts, which include faith, and repentance. You quoted A.W. Tozer and I would also like to quote Tozer from the Pursuit of God where he said, I like what A.W. Tozer said in the book "The Pursuit of God" He was commenting on taking credit for accepting Christ; and said, "We pursue God because, and only because , He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit. "No man can come to me, " said our Lord, "except the Father which hath sent me draw him, " and it is by this very prevenient drawing that God takes from us every vestige of credit for the act of coming. The impulse to pursue God originates with God, but the outworking of that impulse is our following hard after Him; and all the time that we are pursuing Him we are already in His hand." You asked me, "Did God do your repenting for you? Or did you personally need to repent of the sins you committed?" God granted to me the ability and the desire to repent. Yes, I repented, but only because God enabled me to. I can’t boast about "my" repentance. He regenerated me to life so that I could repent and believe. God brought me to life to believe and repent. Once I set my eyes upon Christ I could not resist Him. You also asked me my understanding of Hebrews 6:4-6. I think the important thing to pay attention to in this verse is the word "tasted". For Christ said in John 6:53-54 "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. This person that is spoken of in Hebrews 6 only "tasted" of Christ. Just as food, it doesn't actually become a part of you until you consume it. So it is with Christ. This person in Hebrews was only testing driving Christ (if you will). That is my understanding of this scripture. For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. (Heb. 6:4-6 NASB) |