Charles Spurgeon(a Calvanist I am pretty sure) said that when a person becomes a Christian it is like approaching a huge mountain, far too steep to climb, but most try. No matter how hard they try they always fail, for the mountain is too steep, and they always end up back where they started. But at the foot of the mountain was a narrow gorge, so narrow most failed to see it, it was the way of Christ and led to the other side. He likened the mountain to the way of law/styriving to be good enough/not sin in your own strength
There's a problem for many in Christendom. They become Christians, the Holy Spirit enters their life, they are at that moment born again, he has brought the new life to them. But what of the sin, the sin they desperately do not want for the Spirit, under the terms of the new covenant has written God's good and Holy laws on their heart and mind. For upon a genuine conversion the new convert in their heart wants to obey, they have a conscience as to everything they do wrong, this is the work of the Holy Spirit in their life, they have been born anew.
But they are also still in a body of human flesh and resoning. And now they are convicted of their sin, the natural mind tells them they must strive to defeat the sin, in order to be/remain a Christian, for they must live according to God's good and Holy laws/his requirements, to suggest otherwise would be of the devil, and so they try and climb the mountain but can't do it. Many sincere people give up crushed, and many become hard nosed, they put on an act in church each week, or when they meet other Christians, pretending to be something they know in their heart they are not nor can be.
And some are like this for their minsters do not tell them any different, they infer that is the route they must follow, strive to defeat the sin in your own effort, and if you do not succeed and reach a certain postion in a short space of time your salvation will be called into question
But for the Christian who knows the truth, they know of themselves they can do nothing. They are helpless, it is for them to look away from themselves and to Christ, and to trust him to do fo them what they know they cannot do for themselves, and the more they do this, tjhe more the Holy Spirit can work in their life/sanctify them, for they are following the truth of the Gospel. They then cannot boast of themselves, as Spurgeon also said, he thought God may have chosen to save(and keep) us by fGrace, through faith as this cuts out boasting. And so the convert following the truth is overwhelmed by love and gratitude for what God does for them, through the faith they have been given as a free gift, they glory in what God has donbe for them through Christ.
The person who in effect follows the way of law and their own effort to strive to be good enough cannot understand the person who sees obediance through faith, to them they seek a license to sin, for they do not understand the truth of the Gospel and are left crushed by the heavy loads
But Jesus said, he only gives light burdens
'Obediance comes from faith' 8it is the cxore to true sauccess in the Christian walk
For sin shall not be your master, for you are not under law but under grace(through faith) Rom6:14
I didn't see any other points of contentioin in your post, so only respondsed to this one
Yes !!!
Excellent post, markymark. The only way that we can understand we are FREE from our sins is realizing the Son saved us by grace and we do that one way and ONE WAY ONLY.......
....THROUGH FAITH. Stepping forward in Him, with His leading, by 'FAITH IN HIM,' says Phil. 3:8 or 9. We then 'gain Christ'. This hypothesis is very simple.
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nilE: Through him we receive grace and Apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obediance that comes from faith Rom1:5 it
Yes! No grace comes from belief, but through FAITH , 'from faith,' as you put it nilE !! Sometimes, I actually think you and I are closer to understanding the 'truth' of faith in concurrence than it appears.
Yes !!! nilE, by FAITH, we believers BELIEVE our FAITH comes from God, who gives us our 'measure,' right? He
I think we both agree that God does NOT say anything after, at first, saying in Scripture that He gives us a 'measure of faith .' Am I right? We gain from our FAITH in HIm an increase in being able to serve Him, do more for Him, for His glory.
We gain what, green? Peace, comfort, rewards in heaven, and, with all that is an understanding of Him, as He speaks His truth to us to understand, and, not so coincidentally, names of the Holy Spirit, who works in our lives by faith, OUR faith, sure, God gave us our faith in the first place, but He does not then just MAKE us believe, we believe BY FAITH, nilE. I hope and pray you can see the 'truth' of what is said here. The Spirit of truth, the Spirit of understanding, He in us wants us to know what is being said in Scripture and the only way we can now is by faith. We CANNOT hear unless we have FAITH.
Unless we have belief?? No !!! We accept Christ by belief, but we then THROUGH FAITH can understand His words to us and His Word to us. HOw He speaks to you, how He speaks to me, IS different, individual, just like the gifts that He 'individually wills' as He pleases.
Faith comes from hearing, and, hearing by the word of God. So, in order to even HEAR what He is telling us we must HEAR what He speaks to us through His Word. By faith, by faith, by faith, IF nothing else gets through to you, nilE, we are beings who will LIVE forevermore by faith in Him. No other way, NONE. YOU will LOSE your life for Him, however that happens, not sure if it will be like John on an island like Patmos, or, martyr's death like the other apostles of Jesus or just old age, but YOU will lose your life for Him. Scripture is clear of he who loses his life for my sake will keep it but he who keeps his life (selfishly) will lose it. You can ONLY lose your life and find Him by FAITH !! No other way, your human mind can't do it !! You need to follow Him and that does NOT take belief, it takes faith. You believed, it's FINISHED !! YOU MUST NOW, nilE, live by faith. The just WILL live by faith
Job 42:5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.[HR][/HR]
Galatians 3:2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard?[HR][/HR]
Galatians 3:5 So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?[HR][/HR]
Colossians 3:16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.[HR][/HR]
1 Thessalonians 2:13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.[HR][/HR]
Hebrews 4:2 For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.
The bold-faced verse especially read nilE. This verse DOES speak of 'belief,' but the substance of that belief is much more, as Paul explains,, it IS faith, you are "His workmanship" and this Eph. 2:10 verse follows the verses that MOST speak of the reality of what 'faith' is , in Eph. 2: 8,9 . Faith is what, ultimately, saves us, God's grace, but we are saved through OUR having faith of His faith having been given (measured) to us , which is what 2:8b says of it being not of ourselves, and, being a free gift . We have NO entitlement to having concocted our OWN faith. God measured it to us , but we will WORK for Him by faith . Through faith, we will be saved, but, 'by faith' we gain Him ,we get to know Him more, and, we MUST love Him in this knowing of Him, embrace Him, or, we will NOT see Him.