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Author
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Topic: True Faith Perseveres
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MentorsRiddle
Advanced Member
Member # 2108
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posted
I think God will be judging us based upon our hearts.
We can say we are something, but not be something.
We can pretend to like or love someone, but not really care for them at all.
I beleive God, who truly knows our heart, will judge us based upon our hearts.
The bible says that Jesus will turn people away who confessed his name, etc. -- so it stands to reason God will judge us based on something deeper than our actions, deeds, or words.
I beleive God will judge us based soly upon our heart and our true love for him, which only he knows.
If we truly love him and ment it when we confessed him with our mouths then he will love us in the end.
God Bless
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With you I rise,
In you I sleep,
kneeling down I kiss your feet,
Grace abounds upon me now,
I once was lost
but now I'm found.
The gift of God dwells within,
To this love I now give in.
Posts: 1337 | From: Arkansas | Registered: Sep 2003
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becauseHElives
Advanced Member
Member # 87
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posted
Carol said....
quote:
Same as I always have. I believe in Eternal Security, but not in free grace. I have always said "Love and Obedience". I'm opposed to legalism and to license. We obey the Lord because we love Him. It isn't our own self-righteousness but the righteousness of Christ. Obedience earns blessings and rewards, but it cannot earn salvation. Rather, we obey because we are saved...because the Holy Spirit indwells us and He gives us both the desire and the ability to obey. Disobedience brings chastisement. The Lord disciplines (prunes) those He loves to make us more fruitful. He also causes us to persevere. I'm not a Calvinist, but I'm finding that most of my favorite teachers are, and I agree with a lot of it.
Perseverance of the saints, eternal security, and once-saved-always-saved all mean the same thing to me. "Free grace" or "license" are the "sin all you want and still go to heaven" silliness. But I guess other people define things differently than I do.
There are 1050 commandments in the New Testament. They include the Ten Commandments except Sabbath keeping. They also include commandments like:
Three “Asks”:
1. Ask and ye shall receive (Matthew 7:7)
2. Ask no return of goods (Luke 6:30)
3. Ask life for backsliders (1 John 5:16)
I think we should study the Bible, obey what it tells us, and depend on the Holy Spirit. I think that people who betray our Lord by living lives full of sin, or by turning away completely, were never saved at all because the Lord will not lose any who belong to Him. Finally, I think that Christians who don't give much of themselves live without the joy of their salvation.
Think that is a great answer !
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Strive to enter in at the strait gate:for many, I say unto you will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. ( Luke 13:24 )
Posts: 4578 | From: Southeast Texas | Registered: Jun 2002
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Found in Him
Advanced Member
Member # 7596
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posted
What do I think? Hmmmm...
Jesus took my place on Calvary...I am loved, I am forgiven, I am His, I am His Learner (disciple), I can't seem to do anything good without abiding in Him and so I stay with Him.
He is all that i need
He is all that i want
He is my hope, peace, joy and life.
I love Him because He loved me first.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
...and I love you too!
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~To Him That is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy...to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.~ Jude 24
Posts: 1503 | Registered: Jan 2009
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Carol Swenson
Admin
Member # 6929
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posted
I think you should write more often WildB ![[hug]](graemlins/hug.gif)
Same as I always have. I believe in Eternal Security, but not in free grace. I have always said "Love and Obedience". I'm opposed to legalism and to license. We obey the Lord because we love Him. It isn't our own self-righteousness but the righteousness of Christ. Obedience earns blessings and rewards, but it cannot earn salvation. Rather, we obey because we are saved...because the Holy Spirit indwells us and He gives us both the desire and the ability to obey. Disobedience brings chastisement. The Lord disciplines (prunes) those He loves to make us more fruitful. He also causes us to persevere. I'm not a Calvinist, but I'm finding that most of my favorite teachers are, and I agree with a lot of it.
Perseverance of the saints, eternal security, and once-saved-always-saved all mean the same thing to me. "Free grace" or "license" are the "sin all you want and still go to heaven" silliness. But I guess other people define things differently than I do.
There are 1050 commandments in the New Testament. They include the Ten Commandments except Sabbath keeping. They also include commandments like:
Three “Asks”:
1. Ask and ye shall receive (Matthew 7:7)
2. Ask no return of goods (Luke 6:30)
3. Ask life for backsliders (1 John 5:16)
I think we should study the Bible, obey what it tells us, and depend on the Holy Spirit. I think that people who betray our Lord by living lives full of sin, or by turning away completely, were never saved at all because the Lord will not lose any who belong to Him. Finally, I think that Christians who don't give much of themselves live without the joy of their salvation.
But what do you think?
Posts: 6787 | From: Colorado | Registered: Dec 2007
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WildB
Moderator
Member # 2917
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posted
But what do you think?
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That is all.....
Posts: 8775 | From: USA, MICHIGAN | Registered: Mar 2004
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Carol Swenson
Admin
Member # 6929
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posted
True Faith Perseveres
It is crucial to understand what the biblical doctrine of perseverance does not mean. It does not mean that people who “accept Christ” can then live any way they please without fear of hell . The expression “eternal security” is sometimes used in this sense, as is “once saved, always saved.” R. T. Kendall, arguing for the latter phrase, defines its meaning thus:
Whoever once truly believes that Jesus was raised from the dead, and confesses that Jesus is Lord, will go to heaven when he dies. But I will not stop there. Such a person will go to heaven when he dies no matter what work (or lack of work) may accompany such faith. (Once Saved, Always Saved, p. 19)
Kendall also writes, “I hope no one will take this as an attack on the Westminster Confession. It is not that” (p. 22).
But it is precisely that! Kendall expressly argues against Westminster’s assertion that faith cannot fail. He believes faith is best characterized as a single look: “one need only see the Sin Bearer once to be saved” (p. 23).
This is a full-scale assault against the doctrine of perseverance affirmed in the Westminster Confession. Worse, it subverts Scripture itself. Unfortunately, it is a view that has come to be widely believed by Christians today.
John Murray, noting this trend a half-century ago, defended the expression “perseverance of the saints”:
It is not in the best interests of the doctrine involved to substitute the designation, “The Security of the Believer,” not because the latter is wrong in itself but because the other formula is much more carefully and inclusively framed. . . . It is not true that the believer is secure however much he may fall into sin and unfaithfulness. Why is this not true? It is not true because it sets up an impossible combination. It is true that a believer sins; he may fall into grievous sin and backslide for lengthy periods. But it is also true that a believer cannot abandon himself to sin; he cannot come under the dominion of sin; he cannot be guilty of certain kinds of unfaithfulness . The truth is that the faith of Jesus Christ is always respective of the life of holiness and fidelity . And so it is never proper to think of a believer irrespective of the fruits in faith and holiness. To say that a believer is secure whatever may be the extent of his addiction to sin in his subsequent life is to abstract faith in Christ from its very definition and it ministers to that abuse which turns the grace of God into lasciviousness. The doctrine of perseverance is the doctrine that believers persevere . . . . It is not at all that they will be saved irrespective of their perseverance or their continuance, but that they will assuredly persevere . Consequently the security that is theirs is inseparable from their perseverance. Is this not what Jesus said? “He than endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.”
Let us not then take refuge in our sloth or encouragement in our lust from the abused doctrine of the security of the believer. But let us appreciate the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints and recognize that we may entertain the faith of our security in Christ only as we persevere in faith and holiness to the end. (Redemption Accomplished and Applied, 154-55)
Any doctrine of eternal security that leaves out perseverance distorts the doctrine of salvation itself . Heaven without holiness ignores the whole purpose for which God chose and redeemed His people:
“He chose us in him [Christ] before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight” (Eph. 1:4). We were predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ in all His spotless purity (Rom. 8:29). This divine choice makes it certain that we shall be like Him when He appears (1 John 3:2). From this fact, John deduces that everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as Christ is pure (1 John 3:3).
God’s own holiness thus requires perseverance. “God’s grace insures our persevering`but this does not make it any less our persevering.” Believers cannot acquire “the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” unless they “press on toward the goal” (Phil 3:14). But as they “work out [their] salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12), they find that “it is God who is at work in [them], both to will and work for His good pleasure ” (Phil. 2:13).
(John MacArthur)
Romans 6
1 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?
http://thechristianbbs.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=006664
So rather than taking a purely quietistic or pietistic approach to sanctification, we see there’s to be a wonderful blend of our best efforts and God’s resources . We do not serve an overbearing and forceful God who makes impossible demands, then crushes us for our non-compliance. We serve a God who empowers us to live to His glory .
The uniqueness and mystery of Christianity is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). He is our sanctification and our sufficiency . God calls us to holiness and then makes us holy. He calls us to serve and then mobilizes us to serve by His own power and presence. It is His work, and it is our work—a divine partnership. But the glory belongs to Him alone.
Posts: 6787 | From: Colorado | Registered: Dec 2007
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