Notice Paul’s Attitude! He Did Not Believe Or Claim To Already Have Salvation, But Sought To Progressively GROW Up Into The Likeness Of Christ,

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Walter said:
Brother, The reason that I asked, is because of your understanding of what Paul was saying because of his attitude then, But I believe that the same issues are now.
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I do believe we should endeavor with all that is within us to pursue after God. I believe part of that will involve doing works and keeping commandments, and a whole host of other things. But all that is merely the result of being saved and entering into relationship with God in Christ. And I believe the impetus for it is the work that God is doing in us.
Before I was saved, I knew God existed. I even recognized Him as Creator and was the beneficiary of His providential care. But I didn't really know Him intimately. I knew about Him much like I know things about Trump. But I have no relationship with Trump so I really don’t know Him.
When I was saved, that changed. God is near to me. I enjoy His presence and nearness. I not only read His word, but I now hear His voice in it. Before I didn't understand, now I see the wisdom in it. Before I attempted to keep His commandments as best I could. Now I obey from the heart.
I could go on, but I have literally become a new creation. Old things are passing and all things are becoming new. And I am doing new and different things, but I'm doing so because Christ is doing these things in me. I'm not trying to improve myself. I am pursuing Him and finding Him and He is making the changes. That's why Jesus said we are to pursue His kingdom and righteousness, and He will take care of the rest.
2 Corinthians 3:18 says we are changed in His presence. We don't need to pursue fixing ourselves, which we cannot do. We need to pursue the presence of God with all our might, that there we are changed from glory to glory.
 
Cameron143 said:
I do believe we should endeavor with all that is within us to pursue after God. I believe part of that will involve doing works and keeping commandments, and a whole host of other things. But all that is merely the result of being saved and entering into relationship with God in Christ. And I believe the impetus for it is the work that God is doing in us.
Before I was saved, I knew God existed. I even recognized Him as Creator and was the beneficiary of His providential care. But I didn't really know Him intimately. I knew about Him much like I know things about Trump. But I have no relationship with Trump so I really don’t know Him.
When I was saved, that changed. God is near to me. I enjoy His presence and nearness. I not only read His word, but I now hear His voice in it. Before I didn't understand, now I see the wisdom in it. Before I attempted to keep His commandments as best I could. Now I obey from the heart.
I could go on, but I have literally become a new creation. Old things are passing and all things are becoming new. And I am doing new and different things, but I'm doing so because Christ is doing these things in me. I'm not trying to improve myself. I am pursuing Him and finding Him and He is making the changes. That's why Jesus said we are to pursue His kingdom and righteousness, and He will take care of the rest.
2 Corinthians 3:18 says we are changed in His presence. We don't need to pursue fixing ourselves, which we cannot do. We need to pursue the presence of God with all our might, that there we are changed from glory to glory.
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Great post Cameron, as I can understand, we as Christians ought to do pleasing in his sight,

Philippians 2:12 King James Version 12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
 
Pilgrimshope said:
“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that
I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” John‬ ‭6:63‬ ‭
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John6-63s.png

John 6:63
:)
 
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Walter said:
Hi, Can you explain what you are saying?
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Friend I am saying after receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and saviour that unbeliever starts his walk to perfection .eternity for that someone starts there ..Proverbs 4:18 King James Version (KJV)But the path of the just is as the shining light, That shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The work Jesus accomplished is in 3 fold ressurection for the believer . listen He SAVED the believer on the cross thousands of years ago .. He is SAVING the beliver to daily as he has picked up his cross which is light . .. And thirdly He will SAVE the believer when he returns and the believer is elevated to meet with him on the perfect day . his return .. Only God is perfect today .
 
Walter said:
Sunday 7-2-23 1st. Day Of The Weekly Cycle, Tammuz 13 5783, 12th. Summer Day
oearly], agin the Christian life, there is a lot of overcoming to do – straining forward to make sure that we will enter the Kingdom of


Again the confusion over the true meaning of salvation. Those who are born again will be in heaven when their life on earth is over. Those who are not born again will be rejected by God. Those who are born again have the opportunity to experience the "salvation of the soul". Some, incorrectly, call this progressive sanctification. "Salvation" in this context is better understood as "deliverance". It includes the renewing of the mind, the deliverance from the grip of sin and self and entering to the call that God has on every believer's life.

Paul is saying that we get only one life before we go into eternity. It is foolish to waste it by indulging self. Many will wish that they had made better use of the time that God gives each one of us. That does not mean that God will refuse us entry to heaven. Those who are born again are already in heaven spiritually. We should live in the light of that.
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Miriam_Jasmine said:
2 Timothy 4:8
in the future there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. Paul believed he was saved.
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Precious friend, A Very Warm Welcome To Chat.

Please Be Very RICHLY Encouraged And Edified In
The LORD JESUS CHRIST, And His Word Of Truth, Rightly
Divided (+ I and II). ← PG Rated "Approved" *

Grace, Peace, And JOY!… + RICH Blessings ♫ 😇 ↑

* PG = Perfect God / Parental Guidance:

Study to Be APPROVED Open Bible.png
 
Walter said:
Remember the story of Abraham, the LORD will provide through obedience with his son Isaac offered him up for a sacrifice?

Genesis 22:1-19
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Abraham never completed the work of sacrificing his own son.

The Father sacrificed His own Son instead.

In the end, Abraham was reckoned righteous because he believed God.

Do not rely on obedience to the law and add that to your faith. Otherwise, you will diminish the atonement that Jesus granted as a gift to us.

Let your boast be in the Lord.
 
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ResidentAlien said:
How do we grow into the likeness of Christ? I want to make sure I'm save in the end, so what is the path? Can you condense it into a few sentences?
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Those who are born again have eternal life. Eternal life is just that, eternal. Those who are born again are complete in Christ, have everything pertaining to godliness, the indwelling Holy Spirit and now live by the Law of the Spirit of Life. Christians need to know who they are in Christ and who Christ is in us. "Christ in you, the hope of glory". "For you died, and your life is hidden in Christ with God"

We need to know our new birthright. Then we need to live in the light of that. I suggest that you read the first two chapters of Ephesians and write down everything that God has done for you in Christ. Declare these truths, out loud, until they are as real to you as your name. They are more real! Human beings gave you your name and the nature of Adam. God has given you Christ and a new nature that is sinless. As you choose to reject the old that comes from Adam and walk in the truth of what God has done for you in Christ, you will grow in grace and the knowledge of the truth. The more diligent you are, the faster you will grow.

Expect to be contested on this issue. Satan attacks those who seek to go on with God. Jesus is already victorious and has given us His victory. Keep declaring Christ whatever comes your way. If it is good, it is because of Christ, not you. There is no place for pride. If it is not so good, it is from Satan who seeks to draw you away from the truth. Resist him by declaing the truth. Confess any sin as soon as it happens. God will cleanse you in the blood of the Lamb and then erase your sin from the book of life. Commit yourself to Jesus as Lord and Deliverer. He has promised to keep you in His keeping power. Don't try to change yourself. Let Jesus do it. He's good at it. That's His name!
 
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Walter said:
Sunday 7-2-23 1st. Day Of The Weekly Cycle, Tammuz 13 5783, 12th. Summer Day

To the Laodicean church, Christ declared – “To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne” (Rev.3:21). To everyone who CONQUERS God will give final SALVATION, glory, and majesty, in the Kingdom of God! Do you get it? Do you understand? Paul the apostle understood that we must endure to the end – that we must be FAITHFUL till our dying day, or till Christ returns (whichever comes first!). Paul wrote, of his own spiritual battle: “Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? RUN in such a way that you may WIN it. Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreathe, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified” (I Cor.9:24-27, NRSV). Notice this in the Amplified Parallel Bible: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but [only] one receives the prize? So RUN [your race] so that you may lay hold [of the prize] and make it yours. . . Therefore I do not run uncertainly (without definite aim). I do not box like one beating the air and striking without an adversary.

But [like a boxer] I buffet my body [handle it roughly, discipline it by hardships] and subdue it, for fear that after proclaiming to others the Gospel and things pertaining to it, I MYSELF SHOULD BECOME UNFIT [not stand the test, be unapproved and rejected as a counterfeit].” “Eternal security” once you profess Christ? HOGWASH! Professing Christ is merely the BEGINNING of the Christian faith and walk! Once beginning, you must ENDURE TO THE END, OVERCOMING, CONQUERING, AND BRINGING YOUR SELF INTO SUBJECTION TO CHRIST! Paul also wrote about this battle in the second letter to the Corinthians. He declared, “For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons. For the weapons of our WARFARE are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, [inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the OBEDIENCE of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One), being in readiness to punish every [insubordinate for his] disobedience, when your own submission and OBEDIENCE [as a church] are fully secure and complete” (II Cor.10:3-6). Notice! We are not yet “fully secure and complete.” Rather, as Paul himself wrote to the Philippians, again quoting the Amplified Parallel Bible, “[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and clearly], and that I may in that same say come to 6 know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually TRANSFORMED [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope] that IF POSSIBLE I may attain to the [personal and moral] RESURRECTION . . . Not that I have now attained [this ideal], or have already been made perfect, but I PRESS ON TO LAY HOLD OF (GRASP) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus (the Messiah) has laid hold of me and made me His own.” (Phil.3:10-12).

Notice Paul’s attitude! He did not believe or claim to already have salvation, but sought to progressively GROW up into the likeness of Christ, so that “IF POSSIBLE” he may attain to the resurrection of the righteous dead, or salvation! “If possible”! It is not already “done.” It was NOT “settled at the cross.” It merely BEGAN at the cross, where Christ was crucified! Paul goes on, vehemently, saying, “I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I PRESS ON TOWARD THE GOAL TO WIN the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.” So, Paul declares, “So let those [of us] who are spiritually mature and full-grown have this mind and these convictions; and if in any respect you have a different attitude of mind, God will make that clear to you also” (verses 13-15). Is it all finished when you simply “accept Christ” as your Saviour? Absolutely NOT! The apostle Paul makes it perfectly plain. Once we begin the Christian life, there is a lot of overcoming to do – straining forward to make sure that we will enter the Kingdom of God and attain to salvation! We must “PRESS ON,” we must “STRAIN FORWARD,” and make sure that we win the ultimate prize! As the apostle Peter himself also declared that we must escape the moral decay and rottenness of human nature and become partakers of “the divine nature” (II Pet.1:4). He went on, “For this very reason, adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence), and in [exercising] knowledge [develop] self-control, and in [exercising] self-control [develop] steadfastness (patience, endurance), and in [exercising] steadfastness [develop] godliness (piety), and in [exercising] piety [develop] brotherly affection, and in [exercising] brotherly affection [develop] Christian love.

For as these qualities are yours and increasingly abound in you, hey will keep [you] from being idle or unfruitful unto the [full personal] knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)” (verses 5-8). “Overcoming” human nature, the pulls of the flesh, the temptations of the world, and our natural proclivity to ‘sin’ – to break God’s commandments, involves a “whole lifetime” of work, diligent effort, growth, and steadfast endurance, to the very end – till either death comes, or the Messiah Himself returns! Peter summarizes the situation, saying, “For whoever lacks these qualities is blind, [spiritually] short-sighted, seeing only what is near to him, and has become oblivious [to the fact] that he was cleansed from his old sins. Because of this, brethren, be all the more solicitous and 7 eager to MAKE SURE (to ratify, to strengthen, to make steadfast) YOUR CALLING AND ELECTION, for IF YOU DO THIS, you will never stumble or fall. Thus there will be richly and abundantly provided for you entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (verses 9-11). Eternal security ONLY comes at the END of a life spent in overcoming, enduring, and serving God, to the very end! Therefore, as the apostle Paul also reminds us, we must constantly, diligently “work out” our own salvation. He declared to the church in Philippi, “Therefore, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed [my suggestions], so now, not only [with enthusiasm you would show] in my presence but much more because I am absent, WORK OUT (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) YOUR OWN SALVATION with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ)” (Phil.2:12).

We must “work out” our own salvation! How? With godly reverence, fear, awe, and trembling, knowing that if we don’t pay heed and do it, we could and would lose out on salvation, and all the glory that God promises to the believers who endure and overcome to the very end of their lives! That’s it! That’s what GOD says! Jesus Christ also declared, firmly and finally, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back [to the things behind] is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). He also said, with finality: “Keep your loins girded and your lamps burning; and be like men who are waiting for their master to return home from the marriage feast, so that when he returns from the wedding and comes and knocks, they may open to him immediately” (Luke 12:35-36). He said with crystal clarity, “STRIVE to enter by the narrow door [force yourselves through it], for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able” (Luke 13:24). The Greek word for “strive” here is agonizomai , from agon, meaning “contest, conflict, contention, fight, race.” It means “to contend, to endeavor, to labor fervently, to fight, to strive.” We get our English words “agony” and “agonize” from this Greek root. Again, the Messiah compares the Christian life to that of a battle-hardened soldier or warrior, who is assaulting a castle or city with strongholds. Jesus declared, as the Moffatt translation says, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, they are pressing into the Realm of heaven – these eager souls are storming it!” (Matt.11:12). “And from the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize – a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion]” (Amplified Parallel Bible, same verse).

Love, Walter, And Debbie
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Your salvation is a gift granted to you because you believed in Jesus Christ.

Your level of obedience, your level of self righteousness, cannot add or subtract from that gift.

Romans 10:13
For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

I know that you will say that, not everyone who believes in Jesus will be saved.
 
1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

If we find that His commandments are grievous, then we know we are walking according to the flesh (living in light of who we were in Adam) ... and we are not walking according to the Spirit (living in light of who we are in the Lord Jesus Christ).

And just was is His commandment?

John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

John 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

Romans 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

1 Thessalonians 4:9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.

1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently

1 John 3:11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

1 John 3:23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

2 John 1:5 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.


gee ... I wonder if God wants us to love one another ??? ... and if we find it is "grievous" to love one another, we turned from Him ... He never moved ...
.
 
Walter said:
Great post Cameron, as I can understand, we as Christians ought to do pleasing in his sight,

Philippians 2:12 King James Version 12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
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Precious friend, correct "we, as Christians ought to do what is pleasing In His Sight."

And, correct: "work out YOUR OWN salvation with fear and trembling"

Now, the issue here is, how to explain these things, Correct?:

1) interpretation of "ought to do" has been changed by some to mean "MUST be done,"
or Else "one loses God's Eternal Salvation." Is this the belief of 'Walter and Debbie'?

Please notice, Under "Grace Through faith" for Salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9), The
Very Next Verse is Clear, is it not?:

"For we are His Workmanship, created in Christ Jesus Unto good works, which​
God Hath before Ordained that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10)​
​
Is it "pleasing In His Sight" to arbitrarily Change this to Must, in order to make this
fit into the "temporary salvation" theology? Failing to follow Rule # 6 of Bible study rules, making All of these Plain and Clear Passages From God's Word Of
Truth 'Null and Void'?:

God's OPERATION On all HIS New-born babes In Christ!

God's Eternal Assurance!

God's Eternal Life Insurance!

Which, in turn then also Denies Christ's ALL-Sufficient Work On The Cross!

2) be continued Explaining God's Differences In 'His Relationship With' us,
( God's Eternal Salvation )

Rightly Divided (2 Timothy 2:15) From “Things That Differ” (online)

And, 'our ( own salvation ) fellowship' with Him?:

God's Simple Will

Precious friend, always appreciate your time and prayerful and Careful
consideration of These Eternally Important Matters of God's Truth.

Amen.
 
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FollowingtheWay said:
There is more than the cross through Jesus and the justification . The cross was important for justification . Now that we are justified there is more available today.
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More of what? I'm not disagreeing, just don't understand the statement.
 
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