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Self Examination: Do you understand the Gospel?
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Here is on of my own words...
....perhaps a trip through the scriptures might be in order...repentance is simply changing your mind
Let's look at it through what scripture has to say about repentance concerning preaching the gospel. I know we have been taught differently through our religious upbringing and beliefs handed down to us. Let's let God's word speak life to us.
Peter preached the gospel of the grace of Christ. to Cornelius ..no repentence used
Acts 10:43-44 (NASB)
[SUP]43 [/SUP] "Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins."
[SUP]44 [/SUP] While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message.
They were not told to "repent" here.
I love how the Holy Spirit "falls upon " them as soon s they hear about the forgiveness of sins proclaimed to them because of Christ!
Peter got in trouble with the jewish Christians when he went back...he says in Acts 11:17,18
Acts 11:17-18 (NASB)
[SUP]17 [/SUP] "Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?"
[SUP]18 [/SUP] When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, "Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life."
What was there repentance?...they changed their mind toward God and had faith in Jesus.
Notice that it was God that granted them repentance. New Covenant repentance is not something we conjure up on our own nor is it a work we produce.
2 Tim 2:24-25 says that God may grant them repentance so that they may know the truth. God grants the repentance..not a work we do on our own.
Paul preached the gospel of grace here in the only recorded time in scripture.
Acts 13:38-39 (NASB)
[SUP]38 [/SUP] "Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,
[SUP]39 [/SUP] and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.
Again ..no telling them to "repent"...but Paul did tell them .." urged them to continue in the grace of God"
Both of the examples we have of New Covenant preaching about the gospel of grace had NO words of telling people to repent.
These clearly show that "repentance " was not told to them
So, repentance does not mean "turn from sin '..it means change your mind and turn to God and believe in Jesus and hat He has done.
There is a change after we come to Christ and His life in us transforms us.
We do not say it's ok to sin...grace says the exact opposite...and maybe no matter how many times we say it..people will only "hear" what they want to believe.
We all need to repent every day as we hear the beauty of our Lord proclaimed!
Brethern ...I urge you to believe in the awesome greatness and splendor of our Lord's magnificent finished work on our behalf!
....perhaps a trip through the scriptures might be in order...repentance is simply changing your mindLet's look at it through what scripture has to say about repentance concerning preaching the gospel. I know we have been taught differently through our religious upbringing and beliefs handed down to us. Let's let God's word speak life to us.
Peter preached the gospel of the grace of Christ. to Cornelius ..no repentence used
Acts 10:43-44 (NASB)
[SUP]43 [/SUP] "Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins."
[SUP]44 [/SUP] While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message.
They were not told to "repent" here.
I love how the Holy Spirit "falls upon " them as soon s they hear about the forgiveness of sins proclaimed to them because of Christ!
Peter got in trouble with the jewish Christians when he went back...he says in Acts 11:17,18
Acts 11:17-18 (NASB)
[SUP]17 [/SUP] "Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?"
[SUP]18 [/SUP] When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, "Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life."
What was there repentance?...they changed their mind toward God and had faith in Jesus.
Notice that it was God that granted them repentance. New Covenant repentance is not something we conjure up on our own nor is it a work we produce.
2 Tim 2:24-25 says that God may grant them repentance so that they may know the truth. God grants the repentance..not a work we do on our own.
Paul preached the gospel of grace here in the only recorded time in scripture.
Acts 13:38-39 (NASB)
[SUP]38 [/SUP] "Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,
[SUP]39 [/SUP] and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses.
Again ..no telling them to "repent"...but Paul did tell them .." urged them to continue in the grace of God"
Both of the examples we have of New Covenant preaching about the gospel of grace had NO words of telling people to repent.
These clearly show that "repentance " was not told to them
So, repentance does not mean "turn from sin '..it means change your mind and turn to God and believe in Jesus and hat He has done.
There is a change after we come to Christ and His life in us transforms us.
We do not say it's ok to sin...grace says the exact opposite...and maybe no matter how many times we say it..people will only "hear" what they want to believe.
We all need to repent every day as we hear the beauty of our Lord proclaimed!
Brethern ...I urge you to believe in the awesome greatness and splendor of our Lord's magnificent finished work on our behalf!
E
its only an issue if you make it one.
He was pointing out the religious interpretation of repentance.
He can't say it is the most important things he preached. Then say it is not important.
He is Right, John never said repent. But Repent is something we do when we humble ourselves We do not have to preach it to get [people to do it. Just show people the truth, they will automatically repent.
He was pointing out the religious interpretation of repentance.
He can't say it is the most important things he preached. Then say it is not important.
He is Right, John never said repent. But Repent is something we do when we humble ourselves We do not have to preach it to get [people to do it. Just show people the truth, they will automatically repent.
My Lord is too, care to mock His words as well?
Matthew 5:48
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Matthew 5:48
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
I am witnessing people make arguments for doctrines that are completely contrary to Jesus' finished work at the cross of Calvary. Some facts about His sacrifice is that through Him we have been reconciled to God and have forgiveness of sins. Right? The veil has been broken, that which separated man from God (I.e, sin) has been dealt with so that man would be reconciled to God. That is the plan of reconciliation.
How do you go from faith in that truth, Christ crucified and resurrected for the purpose of reconciling sinful man to God, and then go to a doctrine that alienates man from God due to sin? Did I just miss something? Did Christ not just go to the cross 2000 years ago to deal with sin so that we would no longer be alienated from God? I am perplexed at how these doctrines of sin confession and repentance are being used to distance God, our heavenly Father, from His children when He made sure nothing could separate them from His love by Christ's sacrifice.
Do people understand the Gospel? These are simple, foundational, truths about the Gospel and yet, some how, something has gone amiss that people are trying to obtain something Jesus already paid for with His blood (I.e, forgiveness of sin and reconciliation/communion with God). I am genuinely perplexed and annoyed even, that people are espousing doctrines contrary to the basic tenets of the faith.
You ARE reconciled to God, you HAVE forgiveness of sins and you ARE in the light for you are in Jesus Christ. Don't listen to people's religious ideas that replace faith in Christ for some practice. People, please, grasp the very basic tenets of the faith and understand what Jesus accomplished for you. Please. It is frustrating to witness people trying to obtain something that Jesus paid for with His sacrifice only to have it ignored and sought after through some other means. Give the glory to God and commune with God. Have fellowship, you are reconciled!
How do you go from faith in that truth, Christ crucified and resurrected for the purpose of reconciling sinful man to God, and then go to a doctrine that alienates man from God due to sin? Did I just miss something? Did Christ not just go to the cross 2000 years ago to deal with sin so that we would no longer be alienated from God? I am perplexed at how these doctrines of sin confession and repentance are being used to distance God, our heavenly Father, from His children when He made sure nothing could separate them from His love by Christ's sacrifice.
Do people understand the Gospel? These are simple, foundational, truths about the Gospel and yet, some how, something has gone amiss that people are trying to obtain something Jesus already paid for with His blood (I.e, forgiveness of sin and reconciliation/communion with God). I am genuinely perplexed and annoyed even, that people are espousing doctrines contrary to the basic tenets of the faith.
You ARE reconciled to God, you HAVE forgiveness of sins and you ARE in the light for you are in Jesus Christ. Don't listen to people's religious ideas that replace faith in Christ for some practice. People, please, grasp the very basic tenets of the faith and understand what Jesus accomplished for you. Please. It is frustrating to witness people trying to obtain something that Jesus paid for with His sacrifice only to have it ignored and sought after through some other means. Give the glory to God and commune with God. Have fellowship, you are reconciled!
The problems with these ideas & others is one single thing: faith. We entered into this covenant by faith, we live in this covenant by faith, & when we end doing so WE BREAK THE COVENANT. The entirety of this covenant is BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH.....not a one-time "decision" for Jesus Christ & kick back & slide in, but starting in faith, running the race by faith, & finishing our course by faith. Ignorance isn't acceptable, faithlessness isn't acceptable, & thinking it's all over 'cuz of a one-time "decision" isn't acceptable. THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.....not by grace alone! And not a "saying" faith, either!
Note the scriptures:
Hebrews 10:19-29 (NASB)
[SUP]19 [/SUP]Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, [SUP]20 [/SUP]by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, [SUP]21 [/SUP]and since we have a great priest over the house of God, [SUP]22 [/SUP]let us draw near
with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. [SUP]23 [/SUP]Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; [SUP]24 [/SUP]and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, [SUP]25 [/SUP]not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. [SUP]26 [/SUP]For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, [SUP]27 [/SUP]but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY of a fire which will consume the adversaries. [SUP]28 [/SUP]Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. [SUP]29 [/SUP]How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?
Do we see the comparison between the two covenants? The writer is saying in a nutshell, "better covenant, more severe punishment (in Hell & lake of fire) for unbelief. Israel was promised a "promise land" & was commanded to take it by faith, & many died in the wilderness for unbelief.
How is it then, when these two covenants are compared with the same kind of judgement for BOTH, plainly stated, yet so many believe they can slide on in without living a life of obedience thru faith?
Here's where those folks mess it up royally..... DISOBEDIENCE IS UNBELIEF! The two cannot be separated. Rebelling from obedience is still as the sin of witchcraft, for the people strive to live a supernatural life "for God" using their own rules & methods. "Doing what's right in their own eyes".
THIS COVENANT IS BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH..... THROUGH MEANING THROUGHOUT OUR LIVES, THROUGHOUT OUR COURSE, THROUGHOUT OUR RACE..... This is "keeping the faith".
1 Corinthians 9:24 (KJV)
[SUP]24 [/SUP]Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
[HR][/HR]Hebrews 12:1 (KJV)
[SUP]1 [/SUP]Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
[HR][/HR]2 Timothy 4:7 (KJV) [SUP]7 [/SUP]I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
[HR][/HR]1 Peter 1:5 (KJV)
[SUP]5 [/SUP]Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
[HR][/HR]Revelation 14:12 (KJV)
[SUP]12 [/SUP]Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
Yea..never mind what the New Covenant scriptures say concerning repentance ..we want to keep the Old Covenant way.....we want to keep our "sacred cows"...man-made traditions will always conflict with truth...
Matthew 15:6 (NASB)
[SUP]6 [/SUP] he is not to honor his father or his mother.' And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
Matthew 15:6 (NASB)
[SUP]6 [/SUP] he is not to honor his father or his mother.' And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
Or does it go more like this?
2 Timothy 4
4 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: [SUP]2 [/SUP]preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. [SUP]3 [/SUP]For the time is coming when people will not endure sound[SUP][a][/SUP] teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, [SUP]4 [/SUP]and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
2 Timothy 4
4 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: [SUP]2 [/SUP]preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. [SUP]3 [/SUP]For the time is coming when people will not endure sound[SUP][a][/SUP] teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, [SUP]4 [/SUP]and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
Grace7x77 The difference between us all is very simple.
You guys believe when Christ died on the cross sin was dealt with for everyone, irrespective of faith.
We believe when Jesus died, the sacrifice is only for those who accept it by faith. It is a new covenant of Jesus's sacrifice conditional on we follow Him.
This creates two different theologies. Are you not man enough to admit this reality, or is it better for you to continue the illusion we have the same beliefs, but we are evil legalists who lie and deceive and to admit this is the truth is to give us power.
It would not surprise me if this is your idea, because ofcourse satan must be empowering us, and giving an inch to him is evil.
You guys believe when Christ died on the cross sin was dealt with for everyone, irrespective of faith.
We believe when Jesus died, the sacrifice is only for those who accept it by faith. It is a new covenant of Jesus's sacrifice conditional on we follow Him.
This creates two different theologies. Are you not man enough to admit this reality, or is it better for you to continue the illusion we have the same beliefs, but we are evil legalists who lie and deceive and to admit this is the truth is to give us power.
It would not surprise me if this is your idea, because ofcourse satan must be empowering us, and giving an inch to him is evil.
I do have a great passion for Christ!..here is what knowing Him does for me.
I was also praying this morning and thinking about how the grace of Christ has affected me. I had the scripture come up where the Pharisees were arguing about whether a man was born blind or not after Jesus healed him. Of course the Pharisees were trying to discredit the message of Jesus. The man said.." All I know is that I was born blind but now I see."
This is what the gospel of the grace of Christ has done in my life:
I realize that these beliefs in the grace of God....especially the acceptance grace and the total forgiveness that Jesus bought and paid for with His blood....that these can be offensive to our religious beliefs and what we have been taught in church.
This gospel of the wondrous grace of Christ has had a beautiful affect on me. I am more in love with Jesus and the Father more then ever....in love with studying His word....praying in the spirit constantly with a heart full of joy!
This gospel has given me a compassion for other people and to reach out in love to them. To give more than I ever have with a heart full of love.
To live a holier life in Him...to be a witness of the life and love of our Lord in me.
If these are the horrible fruit of the grace of Christ in me....I want more!.....hyper-grace me more please my Lord and God!
I am living a much fuller life now, more deeply in love with Jesus and the Father then ever, free from the horrible religion of self-effort, having the love of God pour out to me to help others now that I understand the grace that is in Christ then I did when I was doing the self=performance based gospel ( which is not the gospel )
I was blind but now I see. I see Jesus and His finished work for me!
It will always be in eternity "Worthy is the Lamb"..it will never be.."Worthy is the Lamb......and me..because I did my part"
It has always been about Jesus and Him alone and it will always remain that for all eternity.
I was also praying this morning and thinking about how the grace of Christ has affected me. I had the scripture come up where the Pharisees were arguing about whether a man was born blind or not after Jesus healed him. Of course the Pharisees were trying to discredit the message of Jesus. The man said.." All I know is that I was born blind but now I see."
This is what the gospel of the grace of Christ has done in my life:
I realize that these beliefs in the grace of God....especially the acceptance grace and the total forgiveness that Jesus bought and paid for with His blood....that these can be offensive to our religious beliefs and what we have been taught in church.
This gospel of the wondrous grace of Christ has had a beautiful affect on me. I am more in love with Jesus and the Father more then ever....in love with studying His word....praying in the spirit constantly with a heart full of joy!
This gospel has given me a compassion for other people and to reach out in love to them. To give more than I ever have with a heart full of love.
To live a holier life in Him...to be a witness of the life and love of our Lord in me.
If these are the horrible fruit of the grace of Christ in me....I want more!.....hyper-grace me more please my Lord and God!
I am living a much fuller life now, more deeply in love with Jesus and the Father then ever, free from the horrible religion of self-effort, having the love of God pour out to me to help others now that I understand the grace that is in Christ then I did when I was doing the self=performance based gospel ( which is not the gospel )
I was blind but now I see. I see Jesus and His finished work for me!
It will always be in eternity "Worthy is the Lamb"..it will never be.."Worthy is the Lamb......and me..because I did my part"
It has always been about Jesus and Him alone and it will always remain that for all eternity.
That's right, grace through righteousness, and grace through faith. Any thing that is not of faith is sin.
So if one is sinning every day, or wilfully sinning as some have already confessed, are they truly being faithful? Is committing and living in sin of the faith?
Again their own words prove they do not have faith and are reprobate.
So if one is sinning every day, or wilfully sinning as some have already confessed, are they truly being faithful? Is committing and living in sin of the faith?
Again their own words prove they do not have faith and are reprobate.