Not By Works

It's okay ... I am not crying.

I like a lot of what you wrote above, but can't agree with everything you wrote above.

Colossians 1
21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Could this be the Problem?

1 Corinthians 2:12-14 (NIV)
12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.
13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

5 probably

I believe JohnW34 is fairly switched on from what he posts, and is not lacking in the discernment department.

By your words pal...you will be justified and or condemned and I can 100% rightfully and biblically judge one's dogma and determine biblically if there is power in the message to save and or condemn by default....and the message most peddle here has no power according to the bible....wake up and smell the roses pal....FAITH plus to gain, keep, maintain a losable salvation = NOT saved

Paul is acknowledging that the are some Disciples that have never been born again. Only Born Again Believers are SAVED Christians, most of the rest think they are saved because the sit on Pew regularly. I used to be one of them disciples, the first 28 years plus of life. Someone should have told me:

Sitting on a Pew does not make you a Real Christian;

Any more than Sitting In a Garage would make me a CAR.

You see it is the CHANGE IN YOUR HEART (Human Spirit), that motivates that continue in the faith. Without that Change in your HEART, you are doomed to Fail.

STILL AS TRUE AS EVER:

1 John 2:19 (HCSB)
19 They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. However, they went out so that it might be made clear that none of them belongs to us.

We born again Believers, actually Belief the BIBLE Literally.

John 3:36 (HCSB)
36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who refuses to believe in the Son
will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.

Matthew 7:20-23 (HCSB)
20 So you’ll recognize them by their fruit.
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but ⌊only⌋ the one who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22 On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?’
23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! {.Born Again believers KNOW HIM spiritually, deeply and personally.}
Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’

Matthew 25:12 (HCSB)
12 “But he replied, ‘I assure you: I do not know you!’ {.Born Again believers KNOW HIM spiritually, deeply and personally.}

John 10:27-28 (HCSB)
27 My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. {.Born Again believers KNOW HIM spiritually, deeply and personally.}
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish—ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand.


Now you come up with a New Term that I have Never Heard in any Church:

between a belief in the certainty of salvation eternally set,

What is eternally set ? ? ?

I have to ask you a question, "Does it seem to you that there is a lot more people with strange beliefs, especially with the younger generations, that ever before?"

We moved from Nebraska, to California for about over 20 Years of my Life. Nebraska was in the Bible Belt. Spent two years in Northeastern California, and lots of Bible Teaching Churches there. Then we moved to the Northern Coast of California, and that was southern tip of a Small Bible Belt there, that ran all along the River to Medford, OR. Now I am back here in Nebraska. Have I been living in a sort of Protective Bubble of OSAS Churches or what is going on?

Or is the Great Falling Away from truth?

2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 (NKJV)
1 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you,
2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.
3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,
4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

Your point actually proves mine. Because according to your reasoning these others were never in the faith. Therefore the only ones who could continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, are the born again believers. Therefore CONTINUING is still a requirement.

Jesus said this

Matt 7:1-2
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Put simply if one individual you judge unfairly, so unfairly will you be judged.
You claim the authority and insight of God without any doubt or variance to exercise and condemn people to hell.

Yes your certainty has an appeal, a sense of authority and justice, cutting through the compromise, speaking the truth, dealing with the flim flam, but is this the way of Jesus and His word.

John 5:30
By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgement is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

"We born again Believers, actually Belief the BIBLE Literally." Amen

When something is eternally set, there is nothing that can change it.
Judgement of mankind is eternally set.

Salvation of the elect is eternally foreknown and eternally set, the book of life.
Our knowledge of who is chosen and who is not is not set, but indicated.

Our role as believers is to shine like stars.

Phil 2:14-16
Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life--in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labour for nothing.

Do you believe this, as you take belief in the bible literally?

Paul : 6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert[a] the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.

EPH 4:

One Lord - The true God/Man
One Faith - One Gospel
One Baptism - washing of regeneration of the HS

Luke 3:3-4
He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him."

Mark 2:5-7
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves,
"Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

Being cleansed is testified as the ministry of John, and Jesus.

Luke 1:76-79
And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace."

Of Zechariah and Elizabeth parents of John
Luke 1:6
They were both righteous in the sight of God, following all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly.
Ones theology can contradict Gods revelation. The test is do we change to accept Gods ways or insist we are right and scripture is wrong.

It is easy to use generic words and ideas, to build a theology and end up ignoring scripture and God.
John the Baptist came to make straight the paths of Israel to prepare for the King.

If one believe no ones path can be made straight, then Gods core strategy was something different.
But the gospel writers seem certain God intended righteousness and repentance to come to Israel
before Jesus's ministry began. So which is it? God straightened the paths through repentance and
the forgiveness of sins or something else?

God through His word and the Holy Spirit challenges me every day. I want to follow His way and His word.
Do you believe in the forgiveness of sins and its cleansing through Jesus?
Internally not just externally.

so, how is the sin study going?
have you learned anything about what the word " sin " means??