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NASB | 2 Timothy 4:18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 2 Timothy 4:18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil assault, and He will bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. |
Subject: once saved always saved? |
Bible Note: I would emphasize John's picture from 1 John depicting christians staying in the fellowship of light from God. You might notice that it's paramount to maintain a proper relationship with all of God's children (fellow christians) in order to keep a good, intact relationship with God. This is very clear from John's writing. The most important point from 1 John applicable to this thread is that of staying within the fellowship of God, represented by light. We could compare this to a common credit account with one of our many creditors throughout America. As long as we maintain a good history record of making regular payments, our credit is good and we're able to enjoy the benefits, including the purchasing power and maybe even a slight bit of prestige when the credit limit is high or the history record is good and long enough. Now in comparison, God bought us back from the devil as our souls were forfeited with all our sins to a hopeless eternal Hell with Satan's angels. He bought us with the most expensive commodity immaginable, His very own son's blood. So now we're in debt to Him, a debt we could NEVER even hope to pay back. So we're obligated to Him to obey Him and comply with all His commands and examples as cited His Holy Word. Now of course, our God is absolutely Perfect and cannot allow sin in His presence including our hopelessly sinful beings...unless we're covered by His Son's blood, thus our need for salvation in accordance with His Son's Last Will and Testament. Now being saved doesn't do away with the sin in our lives so in that respect we're still no different from the most vile sinner on earth. The big, most important difference between these two different groups of sinners is whether or not they're saved, having the blood of Jesus to cover their sins. With that relationship intact with both our God and our fellow christians, then we can look forward to the benefits of coverage by our God even when we're "caught off guard" and die suddenly. As long as we've establish a regular habit of repenting regularly of the sins of commission and omission, we're good to go. That's what the Grace of God is really all about. As long as God knows in our hearts, He's King of our lives and His Grace is continuously active in our lives. Other benefits includes the Holy Spirit's assitance in avoiding the sins in our lives, especially as we mature in Spirit with God and learn to spend more and more of our time with our fellow christians. So in a sense, yes God forgives us over and over again because we are primarily human and are very vulnerable to the temptations of Satan. So we should see ourselves in need of our Lord's assistance in this area. We must never think of this process as earning our way to Heaven. Now, there are certain responsibilities (as you mentioned) like bearing one another's burdens, restoring our brethren. Again, these actions should be looked at as weak feeble attempts to pay our Lord for the debt we owe him. I hope this clarifys a little. Country Girl |