Once Saved Always Saved?

Lordship vs Free Grace Animated Comparison

Ironside: What Does it Mean to Repent and Be Saved?

Reposted from: http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=22908

 June 11th, 2017 | Author: Lighthouse Trails author

  LTRP Note: Lighthouse Trails believe that one of the reasons so many proclaiming Christians are turning to contemplative mysticism is because they have been following a non-biblical “Gospel” that has kept them from a true born of the Spirit (born-again) relationship with Jesus Christ. Thus, mystically-induced experiences take the place of that relationship. The following article by Dr. Harry Ironside explains what repentance (a requirement for salvation and being born-again – “except ye repent” – Luke 13:3-5) entails. It may surprise a number of people when they discover what repentance really is.

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By Dr. Harry Ironside (From his book, Except Ye Repent)
More and more it becomes evident that ours is, as once expressed, an “age of sham.” Unreality and specious pretense abound in all departments of life. In the domestic, commercial, social, and ecclesiastical spheres hypocrisy is not only openly condoned, but recognized as almost a necessity for advancement and success in attaining recognition among one’s fellows.

Nor is this true only where heterodox religious views are held. Orthodoxy has its shallow dogmatists who are ready to battle savagely for sound doctrine, but who manage to ignore sound living with little or no apparent compunction of conscience.

God desires truth in the inward parts. The blessed man is still the one “in whose spirit there is no guile.” It is forever true that “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” It can never be out of place to proclaim salvation by free, unmerited favor to all who put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. But it needs ever to be insisted on that the faith that justifies is not a mere intellectual process — not simply crediting certain historical facts or doctrinal statements; but it is a faith that springs from a divinely wrought conviction of sin which produces a repentance that is sincere and genuine. Our Lord’s solemn words, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish,” are as important today as when first uttered.

No sacrificial observances, nor ritual service, nor works of law ever had any part in justifying the ungodly. Nor were any sinners ever saved by grace until they repented. Repentance is not opposed to grace; it is the recognition of the need of grace. “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” “I came not,” said our blessed Lord, “to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

One great trouble in this shallow age is that we have lost the meaning of words. We bandy them about until one can seldom be certain just how terms are being used. Two ministers were passing an open grocery and dairy store where, in three large baskets, eggs were displayed. On one basket was a sign reading, “Fresh eggs, 24 cents a dozen.” The second sign read, “Strictly fresh eggs, 29 cents a dozen.” While a third read, “Guaranteed strictly fresh eggs, 34 cents a dozen.” One of the pastors exclaimed in amazement, “What does that grocer understand ‘fresh’ to mean?” It is thus with many Scriptural terms that
to our forefathers had an unvarying meaning, but like debased coins have today lost their values.

Grace is God’s unmerited favor to those who have merited the very opposite. Repentance is the sinner’s recognition of and acknowledgment of his lost estate and, thus, of his need of grace. Yet there are not wanting professed preachers of grace who, like the antinomians of old, decry the necessity of repentance lest it seem to invalidate the freedom of grace. As well might one object to a man’s acknowledgment of illness when seeking help and healing from a physician, on the ground that all he needed was a doctor’s prescription.

Shallow preaching that does not grapple with the terrible fact of man’s sinfulness and guilt, calling on “all men everywhere to repent,” results in shallow conversions; and so we have a myriad of glib-tongued professors today who give no evidence of regeneration whatever. Prating of salvation by grace, they manifest no grace in their lives. Loudly declaring they are justified by faith alone, they fail to remember that “faith without works is dead”; and that justification by works before men is not to be ignored as though it were in contradiction to justification by faith before God.

We need to reread James 3 and let its serious message sink deep into our hearts, that it may control our lives. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” No man can truly believe in Christ, who does not first repent. Nor will his repentance end when he has saving faith, but the more he knows God as he goes on through the years, the deeper will that repentance become. A servant of Christ said: “I repented before I knew the meaning of the word. I have repented far more since than I did then.”

Undoubtedly one great reason why some earnest Gospel preachers are almost afraid of, and generally ignore, the terms “repent” and “repentance” in their evangelizing is that they fear lest their hearers misunderstand these terms and think of them as implying something meritorious on the part of the sinner.

But nothing could be wider of the mark. There is no saving merit in owning my true condition. There is no healing in acknowledging the nature of my illness. And repentance, as we have seen, is just this very thing. But in order to clarify the subject, it may be well to observe carefully what repentance is not and then to notice briefly what it is.

First, then, repentance is not to be confounded with penitence, though penitence will invariably enter into it. But penitence is simply sorrow for sin. No amount of penitence can fit a man for salvation. On the other hand, the impenitent will never come to God seeking His grace. But godly sorrow, we are told, worketh repentance not to be repented of. There is a sorrow for sin that has no element of piety in it— “the sorrow of the world worketh death.” In Peter’s penitence, we see the former; in the remorse of Judas, the latter. Nowhere is man exhorted to feel a certain amount of sorrow for his sins in order to come to Christ. When the Spirit of God applies the truth, penitence is the immediate result and this leads on to repentance, but should not be confounded with it. This is a divine work in the soul.

Second, penance is not repentance. Penance is the effort in some way to atone for wrong done. This, man can never do. Nor does God in His Word lay it down as a condition of salvation that one first seek to make up to either God or his fellows for evil committed. Here the Roman Catholic translation of the Bible perpetrates a glaring deception upon those who accept it as almost an inspired version because bearing the imprimatur of the great Catholic dignitaries. Wherever the [King James version] has “repent,” the Douay-Rheims translation reads, “Do penance.” There is no excuse for such a paraphrase. It is not a translation. It is the substituting of a Romish dogma for the plain command of God. John the Baptist did not cry, “Do penance, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” Our Lord Jesus did not say, “Do penance and believe the gospel,” and, “Except ye do penance ye shall all likewise perish.” 

The apostle Peter did not tell the anxious multitude at Pentecost to “Do penance and be converted.” Paul did not announce to the men at Athens that “God commandeth all men everywhere to do penance” in view of a coming judgment day. No respectable Greek scholar would ever think of so translating the original in these and many other instances.
On the contrary, the call was to repent; and between repenting and doing penance, there is a vast difference. But even so, we would not forget that he who truly repents will surely seek to make right any wrong he has done to his fellows, though he knows he never can make up for the wrong done to God. But this is where Christ’s expiatory work comes in. As the great Trespass Offering, He could say, “Then I restored that which I took not away” (Psalm 69). Think not to add penance to this—as though His work were incomplete and something else were needed to satisfy God’s infinite justice.

In the third place, let us remember that reformation is not repentance, however closely allied to, or springing out of it. To turn over a new leaf, to attempt to supplant bad habits with good ones, to try to live well instead of evilly, may not be the outcome of repentance at all and should never be confounded with it. Reformation is merely an outward change. Repentance is a work of God in the soul.

Recently, it was the writer’s privilege to broadcast a Gospel message from a large Cleveland station. While he was waiting in the studio for the time appointed, an advertiser’s voice was heard through the loud speaker announcing: “If you need anything in watch repairing go to” such a firm. One of the employees looked up and exclaimed, “I need no watch repairing; what I need is a watch.” It furnished me with an excellent text. What the unsaved man needs is not a repairing of his life. He needs a new life altogether, which comes only through a second birth. Reformation is like watch repairing. Repentance is like the recognition of the lack of a watch.

Need I add that repentance then is not to be considered synonymous with joining a church or taking up one’s religious duties, as people say. It is not doing anything.
What then is repentance? So far as possible I desire to avoid the use of all abstruse or pedantic terms, for I am writing not simply for scholars, but for those Lincoln had in mind when he said, “God must have thought a lot of the common people, for He made so many of them.” Therefore, I wish, so far as possible, to avoid citing Greek or Hebrew words. But here it seems almost necessary to say that it is the Greek word metanoia, which is translated “repentance” in our English Bibles, and literally means a change of mind. This is not simply the acceptance of new ideas in place of old notions. But it actually implies a complete reversal of one’s inward attitude.

How luminously clear this makes the whole question before us! To repent is to change one’s attitude toward self, toward sin, toward God, toward Christ. And this is what God commands. John came preaching to publicans and sinners, hopelessly vile and depraved, “Change your attitude, for the kingdom is at hand.” To haughty scribes and legalistic Pharisees came the same command, “Change your attitude,” and thus they would be ready to receive Him who came in grace to save. To sinners everywhere the Savior cried, “Except ye change your attitude, ye shall all likewise perish.”

And everywhere the apostles went they called upon men thus to face their sins—to face the question of their helplessness, yet their responsibility to God—to face Christ as the one, all-sufficient Savior, and thus by trusting Him to obtain remission of sins and justification from all things.

So to face these tremendous facts is to change one’s mind completely, so that the pleasure lover sees and confesses the folly of his empty life; the self-indulgent learns to hate the passions that express the corruption of his nature; the self-righteous sees himself a condemned sinner in the eyes of a holy God; the man who has been hiding from God seeks to find a hiding place in Him; the Christ-rejector realizes and owns his need of a Redeemer, and so believes unto life and salvation.

Which comes first, repentance or faith? In Scripture, we read, “Repent ye, and believe the gospel.” Yet, we find true believers exhorted to “repent, and do the first works.” So intimately are the two related that you cannot have one without the other. The man who believes God repents; the repentant soul puts his trust in the Lord when the Gospel is revealed to him. Theologians may wrangle over this, but the fact is, no man repents until the Holy Spirit produces repentance in his soul through the truth. No man believes the Gospel and rests in it for his own salvation until he has judged himself as a needy sinner before
God. And this is repentance.

Perhaps it will help us if we see that it is one thing to believe God as to my sinfulness and need of a Savior, and it is another thing to trust that Savior implicitly for my own salvation.
Apart from the first aspect of faith, there can be no true repentance. “He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” And apart from such repentance there can be no saving faith. Yet the deeper my realization of the grace of God manifested toward me in Christ, the more intense will my repentance become.
It was when Mephibosheth realized the kindness of God as shown by David that he cried out, “What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?” (2 Samuel 9:8). And it is the soul’s apprehension of grace which leads to ever lower thoughts of self and higher thoughts of Christ; and so the work of repentance is deepened daily in the believer’s heart.
“Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream,
All the fitness He requireth
Is to feel your need of Him.
This He gives you,
‘Tis the Spirit’s rising beam.”

The very first evidence of awakening grace is dissatisfaction with one’s self and self-effort and a longing for deliverance from chains of sin that have bound the soul. To own frankly that I am lost and guilty is the prelude to life and peace. It is not a question of a certain depth of grief and sorrow, but simply the recognition and acknowledgment of need that leads one to turn to Christ for refuge. None can perish who put their trust in Him. His grace superabounds above all our sin, and His expiatory work on the cross is so infinitely precious to God that it fully meets all our uncleanness and guilt.”

(Dr. Harry Ironside’s writings are in the public domain. You may read more articles by him at: www.harryironside.com).

Response to Paul Washer on "Inviting Jesus into our Hearts" Dr. Leighton Flowers.

"Getting" it - The Omega Letter - Jack Kinsella

Republished from omegaletter.com
In Defense of the Faith
Thursday, June 16, 2011 Jack Kinsella - Omega Letter Editor
 
I cannot recall a time when I ever really disbelieved in God. Reaching way back into the dim recesses, I thought of God as my “Big Friend” – I remember talking to Him from my earliest memories. As I grew older, I put God away, but I don’t think I ever doubted He was real.
That doesn’t mean that I was saved back then – far from it. I could never convince myself that God wasn’t real, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t try. I just did what human beings have done since the Fall:

“And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.” (Genesis 3:8)

Adam and Eve believed in God – heck, they used to walk with Him in the cool of the evening, according to the rabbinical sages. And in a sense, so did I. As a boy pretending to “drive” my little red wagon, I was never alone – I always had Him to talk to.
When I would be afraid at night, I would talk with Him until I fell asleep. I didn’t know His Name – to me He was just ‘God’ but in my innocence, I walked with Him and He walked with me.

I don’t know why my earliest memories seem so vivid and clear; I suspect it is because I lost my mother to cancer when I was ten. Because of that, those memories are the ones I most cherish – they are the ones I pull out most often.

But many of them are as clear to me today as they ever were. By the time I was ten, I had already followed Adam and Eve’s example of hiding from God, but I remember relying heavily on the knowledge that she was still alive in Heaven forevermore.

I counted on God to take care of her, so it wasn’t as if I didn’t believe He existed. But I wasn’t saved. And by then, I needed saving – I was well past the age of accountability, knowing right from wrong and doing wrong, eyes wide open.

I couldn’t face God anymore, so I learned to put Him out of my mind, except in times of danger, when I might invoke His Name – but I really didn’t know Him – that little boy was all grown up. I put Him on the same mental shelf as Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, knowing full well He didn’t belong there.

I’d been educated in a Catholic school and figured that I knew what it took to be saved and it seemed to me to be both way too hard and absolutely no fun.
I had a lot of sinning to do and I really didn’t want Him watching.
By the time I actually heard the Gospel for the first time, I was about twenty-six -- and about the only part of the Bible that seem to apply to me was Job 20:11-14:

“His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue; Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth: Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.”

There’s more, but you get the idea. As I said, I knew that God is, but I hid from Him because I had a lot of sinning planned and didn’t want Him to get in the way. But sin has a way of taking you further than you want to go and keeping you there longer than you wanted to stay.

It starts out sweetness to the mouth, but “the gall of asps” inside. Full to the brim with asp gall, I heard the Gospel one Wednesday night at a little one room church, but I didn’t go up at the altar call.

I couldn’t – too much asp gall. But I couldn’t put the message out of my mind the way I usually did. That night, the enemy overplayed his hand. I woke up in my bedroom, which was cold as ice.

My breath frosted as I breathed and I sensed a malevolent presence in the room. It was terrifying. Maybe it was a dream. I don’t know. But they had given me a little pocket New Testament that night at church which I had put on the nightstand unopened and unread after coming home.

I reached over and as I touched it, I felt a comforting Presence. I put the New Testament under my pillow and went to sleep. Next morning, when I realized what had happened, I hit my knees and turned my life over to Jesus.

I was right. It was hard. But I had met the Enemy that night, and having met the Enemy, I knew whose side I wanted to be on. Everybody told me about their transformation when they got saved.

I wanted to be transformed, too!

I quit smoking, drinking and swearing. I guarded my thoughts 24 hours a day. I went to church every time the doors were open, hung out only with Christians, studied the Bible and prayed constantly.

It was exhausting! It lasted for three, maybe four months – a period of ongoing, constant battle -- me against myself. I wanted to be good, but it was just so hard . . .
I was cleaning my car when I found a cigarette under the seat. I looked at it, was about to toss it, but I lighted it instead.

Next morning, when I woke up, there were my cigarettes on the nightstand and a half-bottle of Jack Daniels in the kitchen, and memories of the night before that still haunt me to this day.

What in the world happened? I was a saved Christian! How could I have let something like this overtake me? I was ashamed.

I was so ashamed I stopped going to church. I was too ashamed to read my Bible. As was my habit, I hid from God and went right back into the lifestyle I lived before I got saved.
I wanted to be transformed -- and so I was.

Months turned into years and I never cracked a Bible, spent any time in prayer . . . I made new friends, I lived more or less the same life I had always lived before Christ. I felt an emptiness, but with a little effort, I could work around the void.

People who knew me peripherally said I was backslidden; those that knew me well concluded that I had never been saved at all. I sometimes wondered, myself.

“Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1^st Corinthians 1:8)

If turning one’s life and will over to Christ, asking Him to save me from my sins and trusting that He is able to preserve me blameless isn’t enough, then maybe they were right.
One thing I was sure of, though. If trusting in Jesus wasn’t enough, I was done for. So why even try?

Hebrews 6:6 seems to concur, saying that having been once saved and then fallen away, it is impossible to renew me to repentance. There seems no way to get to anywhere from here

I was saved, but fell right back into sin and stayed there for years before the Lord picked me back up and restored me to fellowship.
Let’s recap. But open up a Bible to Romans Chapter seven and follow along as we do. I was guiltless, once. Then I learned the difference between right and wrong and knew I was a sinner. (Romans 7:9)

Then I heard the Gospel given to men that they might have life and have it more abundantly. I eagerly embraced it, but found it impossible to live up to. Soon, that which I expected to bring me life, seemed to serve primarily as confirmation of my doom (Romans 7:10)

What happened? I expected to be transformed into a sinless Christian. My expectations let me down, I felt deceived and it practically killed my Christian witness. (Romans 7:11)
Was that the reason why I suddenly (and seemingly permanently) bolted from the faith? Was it because Jesus expected me to be transformed into someone holy and righteous and good? (Romans 7:12)

Was what is good to others all around me in church made into death for me? All around me were other happy, fresh-faced Christians – but the harder I tried to be like them, the more miserable it made me until I just threw up my hands in despair. (Romans 7:13)
I know the Bible says I was transformed spiritually, but I felt just as carnal as I ever was. (Romans 7:14)

For awhile, I just ignored it, because I wanted to be good, but no matter what, I just kept going back to the same old habits. (Romans 7:15)

It isn’t that I didn’t know I was a sinner before – that’s why I turned my life over to Christ in the first place. But the sinner part didn’t go away – I knew what I thought I should do, but I just couldn’t find it in myself to do it.

The harder I tried, the bigger I fell. (Romans 7:18-22)
I was in a constant state of war with myself, like the cartoon of the guy with an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other – my mind wanting to go one way, with my body going the other.

I was in a truly wretched state! (Romans 19-24) I was trusting in my ability, not in His faithfulness.

All of us Christians find ourselves in similarly wretched states at one time or another. Not everybody’s “wretched state” is the same – some of us are bigger gluttons for punishment than others – but we’ve all struggled with our worthiness and the efficacy of our salvation.
If you followed along in Romans you saw that there was nothing about my own Christian struggles that are unique – the Apostle Paul outlined them point by point some twenty centuries before I had them.

I had a totally different column in mind when I sat down this morning, so I can only assume that there is someone in our fellowship that is really struggling with this issue.
The Lord is a real Person, and as a unique and real Person, His relationship with each of us is unique and personal. WE are unique – our struggles are not. It is important to understand the difference.

You may be where I am now, or you may be where I was where I started, or somewhere in the middle. No matter where you are, you probably feel that you have let God down. I know that is how I felt.

But one day, I “got” it. I really was saved by grace through faith, and that not of myself. It was a gift from God. The harder I tried to make it of myself, the worse it got -- until I had been practically convinced by well-meaning friends that I had lost my salvation.
And based on where I was at that moment, that’s exactly how it looked to me, too.
What is the point to all this? We’re living in the last days. The world isn’t what it seems and the enemy is moving among us, doing what he can to dis-empower us as preachers of the gospel and thereby prolong his time.

The first place he goes for is a head shot --– if the enemy can convince us we’re lost, then in terms of our military effectiveness in battle, we might as well be. That’s why Paul advises that we wear the ‘helmet of salvation’ before going into battle.


There are trials and tribulations and struggles in this life – and as the hours count down, the enemy attacks are only intensifying. You may suffer a few setbacks, you may even get knocked out of the battle for a bit.

You may think you’re worthless, but that is only because you can’t see the whole battlefield. Know this. The Lord Jesus saved you for a reason. He isn’t through with you yet.
The battle rages on. Stand strong.

Pastor Charles Lawson - Conviction but no Conversion

Faith Without Works is Dead -- Not Lost

Republished from omegaletter.com
In Defense of the Faith
Friday, September 04, 2009 Jack Kinsella - Omega Letter Editor
 
"Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works." (James 2:17-18)

The second chapter of James, often called the "works" chapter, seems to contradict other places in Scripture that salvation is by faith and stands independent of works.
Paul writes to the Galatians; "I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2:21)

To the Ephesians, he writes; "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)
And to the Romans, Paul writes: "And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work."

Then, just about the time you think you've got this whole thing figured out, somebody whips out James 2:20: "But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?"
And you're right back where you started. A recent email illustrates my point:

"But this very issue keeps me on the edge of my seat. . . I am nowhere nearer understanding it than I was 40 years ago. Doesn't this verse prove that one must have works to go along with their faith? As usual, I am completely confused."

We'll get back to James in a minute. First, let's deal with the confusion. "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints." (1st Corinthians 14:33)
The Apostle Paul outlines the "whole armor of God" (Ephesians 6:13-17) with which Paul says "ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." Paul names truth, righteousness, peace, faith and salvation as the Christian's defensive weapons.

In Paul's day, armor had to put on in a particular sequence in order for all the parts to fit together properly. And until one was properly armored, one didn't pick up one's sword.
The last defensive weapon one puts on before picking up the Sword of the Spirit is the helmet of salvation. In hand to hand combat, the quickest way to win is to score a head shot. Stun your opponent and his sword is useless to him.

What then, is the 'helmet of salvation' and how does it protect you in combat with the enemy?
The most fearless warrior is the one who is certain the odds are with him.

"If God be for us, who can stand against us?" - Romans 8:31  

That's why Paul equated the head with salvation. The first area that the enemy targets is one's perceived position with God.
Satan means 'accuser'. If the enemy can convince you that you aren't worthy to share the Gospel, you won't.

So his primary focus is to convince you that you aren't really saved. Every time you pick up the Sword to explain the Gospel to somebody else, it cuts you  -- and you put it back down.
Is this not logical? If you are in constant conflict and turmoil about your own failures to live a perfect life, what time do you have left to tell other people about Jesus?

And if you aren't sure whether or not you are truly saved, how convincing are you going to be? And finally, how joyful are you about your salvation?

Don't forget the context of this war we're in. The enemy can't touch you directly without seeking permission from God. (Job 1:12) You're beyond his reach, but tactically, you are still a threat that needs to be neutralized.

If he can't get through your armor (truth, righteousness, peace and faith) then maybe he can stun you by attacking you at your weakest point.
"Am I really, truly saved?" . . . "Was I ever truly saved?" . . . "Am I saved at this moment?" . . . "I am completely confused." . . . "Hi. Let me tell you about Jesus. . . "
If you aren't convinced about your own salvation, you're not going to be very convincing sharing it with somebody else. Score one for the enemy side. That's why Paul's epistles are so filled with references to eternal security.

Paul was called to be the apostle to the Gentiles (Acts 18:16, 22:21) and was trained in his calling by Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:16)

Here's the point. It is important to understand that the epistles of Paul, James, Peter and John are letters written to different churches with which each was intimately acquainted.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians in the context of their local customs, culture and conditions. He approached the Romans in the context of their own cultural understanding. His letters to Timothy were written in the context of a teacher to a beloved student.

Peter was a Galilean. His epistles were primarily addressed to the Jews of Galilee who were steeped in a thousand years of customs and traditions and understandings and written in that context.

James was the Lord's biological half-brother -- and that fact tended to color most of his teaching, as well.

Perhaps consequentially, a faction emerged within the early Church, led by James the Lord's Brother and supported by Peter, that argued that Gentile Christians should have to convert to Judaism and obey the Law in order to become Christians.

On the other side was the Apostle Paul, who put forth the opposite position that the Law was fulfilled in the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
I don't want you to take my word for it. The dispute was aired in its entirety in Scripture. The disagreement over legalism was the reason for convening the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-35) Here are the high points:

"And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question." (Acts 15:1-2)

("No small dissension and disputation" is Bible-talk for a HUGE doctrinal fight.)
The Jerusalem Council was convened to settle the issue. The Council heard first from Paul and Barnabas, then Peter and James.

Peter largely agreed with Paul in this instance, asking the Council why they would seek "to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?" (15:10)
On the other side of the question, James eventually settled for a watered-down form of legalism, saying that Gentiles needed only follow three Jewish laws.

"Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day." (Acts 15:19-21)

These three exceptions indicated James believed Gentiles should be bound by those portions of the Law of Moses intended for Gentiles, which roughly coincided with Judaism's Seven Noachide Laws.
They were derived by the rabbis from Genesis 9:1-17 in which God charged Noah and his sons to replenish the earth:

"Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat." (Genesis 9:3-4)

This argument continued, back and forth, for some time within the early Church. It is one of the things about the Bible's narrative that argues for its truthfulness -- it tells the story as it happened, warts and all.
Paul tells the story of the Confrontation at Antioch between Peter and Paul over James and his followers.

"And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. . . But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed." (Galatians 2:9-10)

Paul's chief complaint was that Peter would "eat with the Gentiles" until the followers of James showed up, when Peter would suddenly get all legal again.
Paul called that "dissembling" -- the dictionary defines 'dissembling" as "concealing one's true motives, feelings or beliefs" -- a pretty serious charge to lay at the feet of two Apostles.
Not just any two Apostles, but Peter the first Apostle called, and James, the brother of Jesus. Those are the two he accused of dissembling.

"For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. " (2:12-13)

Notice that even Barnabas, who was commissioned with Paul, got carried away into legalism, separating himself from the Gentiles. Paul lowered the boom on Peter and James, whom he accused of not walking upright according to the truth of the Gospel.

"But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?" (2:14)

Paul then presented his argument in favor of salvation by grace through faith to his two toughest critics, James and John.

"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." (2:16)

The entire six-chapter Letter to the Galatians was a refutation of legalism and salvation by works.
Understanding Scripture in context goes a long way towards rightly dividing the Word. The ministry of James and Peter was to the Jews, whose unique relationship with God went back to the time of Abraham.

The ministry of Paul was to the Gentiles whose gods and goddesses were mainly a matter of social intercourse, not eternal matters of faith and salvation.
Peter and James were burdened with explaining that the Gospel of Christ was not a refutation of Moses and the Prophets. That the liberty of Christ was not the embrace of a false god.
They had to explain to people who lived all their lives under the 613 rabbinic Commandments that obedience to the Law would not save them.

That is not to say that James and Peter are doctrinally untrustworthy. The books they penned were composed long after the Jerusalem Council or Confrontation at Antioch.
Doctrine continued to be harmonized as God provided the revelation and consequently, no Book of Scripture contradicts another. James does not contradict salvation by faith nor does he preach salvation by works.

In understanding what James means in the "Works Chapter" you first have to get a grasp of what constitutes "works" from God's perspective -- as opposed to 'works' from the perspective of an observant Jew.
God's entire plan for the ages is about only one thing -- your salvation.

"The Lord is not slack concerning His promises, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."(2nd Peter 3:9)

Nowhere in Scripture that I can find is God's will so perfectly and succinctly expressed as in this verse. It's all about your salvation. And once you're saved, it's all about the next guy's salvation -- something the Great Commission makes your responsibility.

The Bible lists the fruits of the Spirit. Those "fruits" are evidence of salvation -- but they are not a prerequisite. You don't first get the fruits and then later get the Spirit. It works the other way round.
And there is but one 'work' that bears fruit -- work that brings about the salvation of a lost sinner.

This is the only direct expression of God's universal will that I can find in Scripture -- the salvation of the repentant. It is the only thing we can logically do for God.
We are saved by grace through faith but we are obligated to spread the Gospel. We are His messengers by Divine Appointment.

Every work is judged at the Bema Seat for rewards according to whether it serves God's will or our own. Our faith is demonstrated by our works, James says. ". . . shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. "
That is different than faith PLUS works. ". . . faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1)

Faith can only be demonstrated by works. Works do not demonstrate salvation -- or the Pharisees would have been saved without Christ.
It is works as a demonstration of faith that James is discussing here, not works as a requisite element of salvation. First comes faith and faith is demonstrated by works.
Works are a byproduct of faith, a person who is saved is spiritually compelled to see others saved. But works can't save somebody who is already saved by faith.

The fruit of our works, when taken to its logical conclusion, can only be those we lead to Christ. "Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." (James 2:17)

What does that mean? Consider an orchard of peach trees. All of them are bearing peaches except one tree that can barely manage to produce leaves.
As a peach tree, it is 'dead' --  even though the tree itself may just be withered and barren and unable to produce fruit. But note this fact well. 
It is STILL a tree!

A person whose faith does not bear fruit has a dead (unproductive) faith -- but he is still a Blood-bought believer. It is the Blood that purchases salvation, not the behavior of the purchased.
He will stand before the Bema Seat without receiving any crowns, Paul says.

"If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. (1st Corinthians 3:14-15)

Note, however, that he is still standing before the Bema Seat. His salvation was not effected by his lack of good works or by the preponderance of his bad works. His salvation was effected by his faith that Jesus did for him what he could not do for himself.
Faith without works IS dead. That is clear enough, when one understands it in context. That's why Paul says to put on the helmet of salvation first.

So that you don't cut yourself on your Sword -- before you have a chance to do any works worth bragging about.

What must I do to be saved? (Pastor Charles Lawson)

The First 10 Generations of Mankind Form a Composite Picture of Messiah's Ministry

Reposted from FB
Bible Study Planet

July 16 at 11:21am ·

• Adam is the "Son of God" (Luke 3)
• Abel is the "Son of Man" (Adam means "man", Genesis 4)

• Adam died through a "tree". (Genesis 3)
• Abel was a Shepherd whose blood was shed by his brother. (Genesis 4)
• Seth was the 3rd Son whose life resurrected the righteous lineage in place of Abel's death. (Genesis 4)
• Enoch walked closely with God and was taken away to Heaven. (Genesis 5)
• Methuselah's life (the oldest life at 969 years) was a picture of GRACE *restraining* the Judgment of God via the Flood (Methuselah's name means "When He Dies; It [the Flood] Shall Come")
• Noah and His family of 7 entered the single Door in the Ark of Salvation to escape the Judgment on the World (Genesis 7)
• Noah and His family of 7 return to Earth and set up an altar of sacrifice to give thanks to God in a New World and New Order (Genesis 8)
::: COMPARE :::
• Jesus is the "Son of God" and the "Son of Man" (Mark 1; John 1)
• Jesus is the Good Shepherd whose blood was shed by his brothers. (John 10)
• Jesus died on a "tree". (John 19)
• Jesus was resurrected in the 3rd Day, resurrecting the Righteousness of God in place of His prior death. (John 20)
• After His resurrection God took back His son in the Ascension to Heaven to sit at His right-hand. (Acts 1)
• The Church Age [approximately 2,000 years] is known as the "Age of GRACE" and as the Light we restrain the Darkness; when we are REMOVED the Judgment of God is delivered [in the Tribulation]
• Christ and His 7 Churches enter through the Single Door set in Heaven via the Rapture to escape the Judgment on the World (Revelation 2-4)
• Christ and His Church return to Earth and Christ sets up the Temple of God (Ezekiel 40-48) in a New World Order known as the "Kingdom" (Revelation 19-20)

The sin problem and the schism

Reblogged from Serve Him in the Waiting

By STLloyd December 5, 2014 Ferguson Police Brutality racism salvation
 
In my post “Conversations that need to be had“, I talked about the fact that Benjamin Watson had got it right when he said the issue in Ferguson is not a race problem but a sin problem.  There was a reader/commenter who expressed his resentment of any insinuation that as a black man anyone could tell him to act a certain way in order to ensure his safety from being targeted by police.  Granted I mentioned and linked-to two other videos wherein black men expressed opinions that blacks need to stop blaming whites, and start taking a look at themselves and behaving better, but those were not the point of my post, yet they were the only message the Christian black male commenter seemed to hear. 
Ok.  I get that this is a volatile issue and that as a white female I can’t possibly know what that feels like.  He quoted someone who had said “you have the complexion that ensures protection”.

I want to be clear, and I realize that my mind is often going in so many directions at once, and write in such a stream-of-consciousness way, that I sometimes don’t do a good job of making my point.  And of course, I write as if to those who have been with this blog all along and know a little about me, that I do care.  As I responded to his comment, I think that everything that happened in Ferguson is a tragedy.  It is a tragedy that a young black man is dead.  It is also a tragedy that a police officer who never had to fire his weapon in the line of duty before, did so and is going to live with that knowledge the rest of his life.  It is a compound tragedy that so many black business owners now have had their livelihood wiped out, and that those who participated in this travesty have made those of the Ferguson community look bad.  Especially when a lot of the looters were not locals, and there were provocateurs fanning the flames.

This writer was a nurse.  I worked in hospice.  I am no stranger to death and the signs of impending death.  America as a Constitutional Republic, is on her deathbed.  Obama and others have over-played their hand with the race card this time around.  Many more Americans are still waking up.  But those who would rather not take personal responsibility, will always eagerly and readily project that blame onto someone else.  The politicians know this, and they use it to their advantage.  With a media that is complicit, the narrative gets broadcast and incessantly reinforced.

I don’t hate black people.  There is one race.  The human race.  There are different ethnicities in each of our heritages, but we are all just people.  We all have a sinful nature, though, and that is what is at the root of all of it.

Police brutality is also a major issue.  But all of the evidence presented to the Grand Jury in Brown’s case says he was a real and immediate threat to Officer Wilson.  l of the black individuals think that this brutality is aimed only at blacks,  I can tell you that it isn’t.  It seems pretty equal-opportunity, actually.  In a world where “right and wrong” have purposely been made fuzzy and vague, I would imagine a police officer, who is supposed to enforce the law, might have a pretty high level of frustration.  The law used to mean something, and as an officer of the law, the authority of the law was behind them in their job.  These days, though, they can risk their lives to get a real bad guy off the street, only to see him released with little or no repercussions whatsoever.

Sometimes people get mad and do foolish things, and sometimes people do really stupid and foolish things because they are already angry.  I don’t doubt there are a lot of angry cops out there.  The really angry and bitter ones who see criminals get away with murder, sometimes decide, “why not me?”

I don’t doubt that a lot of the folks who took to the streets of Ferguson were angry.  But I don’t think it was about Brown.  Kind of like the “Occupy” movement.  What were the protesters protesting?  Anything and Everything, each his own thing.  Mad, and determined a whole lot of some bodies are going to know about it!

The political manipulators know this about an angry person.  They are so easily manipulated because they don’t care to exercise self-control or restraint.  They are “bloodthirsty” for chaos, mayhem, destruction, and actual blood.

That is demonic.  Demons know this about an angry person too.  And will use it.
This blog doesn’t focus only on America, and yet lately, with all that is going on, you’d think that was the focus.  I guess that is because America has always been a sort of  “world hero”, and no one enjoys watching a hero fall.  Cosby is like America’s Dad in a symbolic way, and it’s almost like watching a ritual sacrifice. Who can anyone look up to anymore?
God deals with people and He deals with nations.

If you are looking for answers and truth, to make sense of all that is happening in this world, you won’t find it in elected officials.  If you are looking for true justice, you won’t find it in courts.  If you are troubled by the direction things are going in this nation, it won’t be fixed via politics or activism, or protests.  If we could get every person in America to hold hands and come together, we still could not achieve the peace we seek.  Because of sin.
Sin is an unpopular word.  It has fallen way out of favor.  But you know what, in a world where we so value “expression” and so “struggle” to achieve it, the fact is, we can’t express anything if we don’t have some universality to the meanings of words.  We can’t have peace if we don’t have laws that say and mean exactly what they say and mean.  It’s like the Tower of Babel all over again.  Don’t you see it?

We have thrown off all restraint and denied all absolutes, and now the very building blocks of communication, civility, and an orderly society are no more.  We are tearing them down brick by brick.  We are throwing away with both hands, all the blessings God has so graciously given America.  I say we, because all of us are guilty to one degree or another,  if only in taking it all for granted.

But what is happening is not just happening to America.  There is something much bigger going on, across the entire globe. This is going somewhere.  And the one place to figure out where this world is headed, is in the Bible. Yes, that old book.  Some say it is outdated.  But those who read it know better. The explanation is all there.  People don’t reject the Bible because it is irrelevant or because it contradicts itself.  They reject it because it contradicts their behaviors and their evil hearts.  They don’t like what it says.  But no matter.  That doesn’t make it any less true.

People caught up in the welfare state, are stuck there because they choose to believe lies.  The Bible says those who love not the truth will be given over to delusion.  When you look around doesn’t it seem like a lot of people are delusional?  Starting with the man in the Oval office and the other heads of state, and right on down.

There is a split that has always existed.  Jesus said you are either reconciled to God by His blood (if you are willing) and adopted as a son into God’s family or you are “of your father the devil”.  Hal Lindsey talks about a split in his report today.  It is a split in the church, but this church he refers to is the biblical “Harlot” of Revelation.  It is the church of those who practice a form of godliness and yet deny the power thereof (of God Himself, who is able not only to kill the body but cast the soul into hell).  The world’s religions are very much in the front pages of the news these days, have you noticed?  Islam, the Pope, Jews, Satan-worshipers, Christians being tortured and killed in many places, and harassed by atheists, the gays, government officials.  Seems like in the last 20 years the few holdouts who didn’t want anything to do with spiritual things, suddenly took interest in spirituality, and started a trend (with Oprah leading the way) of cafeteria-style religion.

When you mix red and blue, you get purple. When you mix red and blue, and yellow and green and pink and brown and orange and purple, you get a murky, muddy black mess, no “color” at all.  Nothing is distinct after that.  This “universal religion” will be a mixture.  It will mix complementary beliefs, and then embrace opposing ones.  Ecumenical.
Followers of Christ know to come out of her, this harlot church.   She is doomed. She will unite the world and facilitate the rise of a world leader, who will then destroy her.  America has more churches than any other nation.  The harlot is alive and flourishing in most of them.

The wars that are “in the making” will change some dynamics.  Many of the radical Muslims will die.  Peaceful Muslims will then have no reason to fear and will go ahead in the quest to unite with other religions.

All throughout the Bible God speaks of chosen out a people, both from the Jews, and out of every kindred, tribe and nation.  Some day, true justice will be served. But when we face our Creator, we will not be there to lodge our case against others.  We will be there to be judged ourselves. On that day it will not matter how good a person you feel you are.  Because He will be the judge.   There is one defense, and one only.   The blood of infinitely sinless Jesus, shed for infinitely sinful sinners. Has that ransom been paid on you behalf by Jesus?  
Have you asked Him to save you from hell?

Call upon Him while there is still time.  Sudden destruction is going to befall this world soon. Everyone knows it.   As the lines are drawn, are you trying to figure out how to “weather it”?  Your only safety is in Jesus. He is the bridge that closes the gap between you and your Maker that is a great chasm, not just a schism.  When God withdraws His grace, and pours out His wrath, only those hidden in Christ will escape it. Lets quit pretending it is just a matter of my truth vs. your truth.  Lets stop pretending that just because we don’t like the truth sometimes, that actually nullifies it. 

Most blacks are killed by blacks.  Well guess what?  Most whites are killed by whites.    Most Muslims are killed by Muslims.  Murder is sin.  Along with lying, stealing, and adultery. The gays didn’t destroy marriage, heterosexual self-professing Christians did.   If we are going to talk about a slippery slope, then let’s go all the way back.  God gave His law to the Jews and to the Christians. Where we fail to uphold it, the unbelievers can hardly be held to account.  He gave the gospel to a small group of Jews who He chose to be the first Christians,  revealing Himself as Messiah, and extending His grace to all people. We live in that age of grace now, but it is coming quickly to an end.

Revelation 3:20 and Asking Jesus into Your Heart

Dr. Charles Bing GraceLife Ministries Reblogged from Bible Prophecy blog

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." (Revelation 3:20)

"I asked Jesus into my heart" is a common way Christians relate their salvation testimony. Preachers, teachers, witnessing Christians, and gospel literature frequently end their gospel presentation with the invitation to "Ask Jesus into your heart." When we look at the practical, theological, and biblical objections to this phrase, we may decide to use different language.

Practical Problems

A woman related how as a child she was lying on her stomach in bed when her mother told her she needed to ask Jesus into her heart. She rolled over onto her back so that Jesus could come into her heart. This story illustrates how children think in concrete terms. It is easy to see how such an appeal can miss the gospel message altogether.

Left with this imagery, we understand why assurance of salvation is a big problem with many children. They don't feel Jesus in their "hearts." Adults too are left with a subjective evaluation of whether they feel Jesus indwelling them. "Asking Jesus into you heart" easily breeds confusion and undermines the true basis of assurance, faith in God's promise of eternal life in Jesus Christ as Savior.

Theological Problems

Most Roman Catholics would say they receive Jesus Christ into their hearts and lives when they eat the communion elements at church. But a physical transaction involving food, the digestive system, or the heart organ has nothing to do with receiving eternal life. Again, asking Jesus into the heart or receiving Him into one's life does not deal with the issue of one's sinful condition and Christ's provision for sin's penalty through His death and resurrection. A person is diverted away from the gospel message if "asking Jesus into your heart" is the condition for salvation.

Biblical Problems

Those who defend the invitation "Ask Jesus into your heart" usually cite Revelation 3:20. But as we interpret the passage in its context, we find that there is no basis for this invitation here.

In the larger context, the book of Revelation was recorded by John to inform and prepare readers for the end times (Rev. 1:19). Within this general purpose, chapters 2 and 3 address contemporary churches and their respective situations. Six of the churches are displeasing to the Lord Jesus Christ and are told to repent. In contrast, the Gospel of John, which was written to tell readers how to have eternal life (John 20:31), never uses the word "repent" but uses "believe" almost one hundred times as the condition for salvation. This in itself is sufficient reason not to model our evangelistic invitation from the words of Revelation. When Revelation includes a clear invitation to salvation in 22:17, it echoes the invitations of the Gospel of John with "Come" and "take the water of life" (John 4:10; 6:37, 44, 65).

We also observe that Revelation 3:20 is part of Christ's message to the church in Laodicea. Churches are composed of believers, but believers can be displeasing to the Lord by disobedient actions and sinful lifestyles (for example, the Corinthian church). The message to these and the other disobedient believers in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 is not to get saved, but to repent of that which displeases the Lord.

The Laodicean believers are not good or useful to Christ because they are like lukewarm water. He would prefer them to be like hot or cold water, because each has its respective useful purposes. Lukewarm water is useless, unpleasant, and thus spit out (vv. 15-16). They think they need nothing in their relationship to God, but the Lord's assessment is very much to the contrary (v. 17). In verse 18 Jesus counsels them to buy gold, garments, and eye salve. This cannot speak of salvation because salvation is by grace without cost. Jesus speaks of paying the price for the things that are of spiritual value to the Christian. Further evidence that they are believers is the Lord's reassurance in verse 19 that He only reproves and chastens those He loves. The command to "be zealous and repent" is then illustrated by verse 20.

Verse 20 shows how these believers can repent by responding to Jesus' invitation to renew fellowship with Him. Jesus has been excluded from the fellowship of the church, so He knocks seeking entrance. Since a church is made up of individuals, the invitation is to whoever in the church "hears" and "opens the door," a picture of receptivity. The promised result is that Jesus will come "in to" him. It is important to know the original language Jesus used. He did not say "into" to denote contact with (which would use the Greek eis), but he said "in to" to denote motion toward (using the Greek pros). The different emphases between the two prepositions can be seen in John 6:35:

"He who comes to (pros) Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in (eis) Me shall never thirst."

Jesus will come in to where the receptive person is (not inside him) to eat together with him. The imagery of eating together is a common biblical and cultural picture of fellowship. The reward of sitting with Jesus on His throne is not a result of salvation, but a reward for the conquering or victorious Christian (v. 21).

Objections

Some will say, "But are we not supposed to ask Jesus for eternal life as indicated by John 4:10? Yes, for eternal life; but there is no biblical precedent for asking Jesus "to come into your heart." Ask is an analogy for believing. Others may also refer to John 1:12 to say we must receive Christ. But that verse uses receiving Christ for the result of salvation, not the means of salvation, which is to "believe in His name." Others might argue that many people get saved by asking Jesus into their heart. We would respond that if they were saved, it is because they also understood and believed the gospel. No one can be saved by only asking Jesus into his or her heart. We would also add that there are many people without assurance of salvation because they responded to this confusing invitation.

Conclusion

When presenting the gospel, we should be as biblical and as clear as possible. We have an overwhelming biblical basis for telling people to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the One who died for our sins, rose again, and guarantees our eternal salvation. There is no good reasons to use the confusing gospel-evading, and unbiblical invitation to "Ask Jesus into your heart."