Lots of posers have been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of past sins, but without a true repentance from sin, the baptism is just a bath.
Those who continue on in sin show no respect for the Lord's sanctifying blood.
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Desire to be a vessel of honor unto the Lord Jesus Christ?
Join For His Glory for a discussion on how
https://christianforums.net/threads/a-vessel-of-honor.110278/
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Taking the time to pray? Christ is the answer in times of need
https://christianforums.net/threads/psalm-70-1-save-me-o-god-lord-help-me-now.108509/
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Depending upon the Holy Spirit for all you do?
Read through the following study by Tenchi for more on this topic
https://christianforums.net/threads/without-the-holy-spirit-we-can-do-nothing.109419/
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How are famous preachers sometimes effected by sin?
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https://christianforums.net/threads/anointed-preaching-teaching.109331/#post-1912042
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Was Adam imparted free will from the beginning of Creation?
- Thread starter Kermos
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Those who continue on in sin show no respect for the Lord's sanctifying blood.
Carry_Your_Name
Member
This is why I said I don't believe you. No one is that perfect, we all make mistakes like these, we may offend others when we are caught up in the heat of the moment; we may neglect others when we're preoccupied with our own stuffs, we break promises when we overestimate our capability by making such a promise we can't keep.
Some didn't believe Jesus either, so I am in good company.
Was Jesus, our role model, perfect ?
Yes, He was.
You define non-Christians and men walking in the flesh, instead of in the Spirit, perfectly.
Lovers of God don't offend others, or neglect others for personal gain.
We don't break promises, because we don't tell lies.
The devil is the father of those who use lies.
The Father of Christians is God.
Carry_Your_Name
Member
I never denied any of these, all I suggested is that this is a journey of a life time, not a one and done deal. Didn't Paul ask us to offer ourselves as a DAILY sacrifice? Didn't he mention that he had finished the race? That's not immediate. All these early churches had their own problems, to which Paul responded with those letters in the canonical bible. If they were cleansed of all sins, why did they still have all these problems?
Yes, it's just a bath, an initiation ritual that simulates the childbirth process, what else do you think it is? "True repentance from sin" demands a real encounter with Jesus, it requires our denial of ourselves and acceptance of our Lord, and as I said, that's not a one and done deal. "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves." 1 Jn. 1:8.
Carry_Your_Name
Member
I believe in Jesus our role model, I don't beleive you never offend, neglect or break promises. In fact, if you really think of Jesus as our role model, you would've known that He "offended" the religious elites all the time, never acquiesed just to get along. Also, go read the sections of his own trial, he neglected all those made up charges on purpose, he kept in silence, didn't respond to any of those or reason with any of his accusers.
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Too bad.
The false doctrine of gradual sanctification is a death sentence.
Nobody who adheres to it ever becomes totally clean.
They are all perpetually mired in uncleanness.
Yes, something the unclean cannot do.
It was an allusion to his impending death in Rome.
Not to his conversion, or acceptability to God.
I am glad to see you can tell what is a problem, and problems Paul tried to correct.
If the churches had failed to correct them, it would have been proof of their non-acceptance of God as their leader.
To the false Christian, a bath is all it is.
But to those actually crucified with Christ, it is the ultimate submission to God.
Baptism is the means of the destruction of the old man before being raise with Christ to walk in newness of life. (Rom 6:4,6)
It is written..."And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." (Gal 5:24)
That happens at our "immersion" into Christ and into His death and burial. (Rom 6:3-7)
Are you not glad you have free will to accept our Lord ? (as the OP is concerned)
Written by John about those who walk in the darkness.
Besides not being able to say they have no sin, neither can they say they have fellowship with God.
Other verses of 1 John refer to those who walk in the light.
They have confessed their sins and been washed of all sin by the blood of Christ.
They can say they have no sin, and that they have fellowship with God.
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Did He need to apologize ?
No.
Truth needs no apology.
Fulfilling prophesy was part of His mission.
It is written..."The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:" (Isa 53:7, Acts 8:32)
You do not understand God's holiness to think you are sinless.
You men are badly deceived and do not understand salvation properly. We are twice instructed to mortify sin, because it was still there.
I doubt anyone who says what you do knows the Lord and his word.
Jesus didn’t mince words my friend. He said go and sin no more and I am saying go and sin no more. If I copy the teachings Jesus received from his God, why do you say I am deceived?
Carry_Your_Name
Member
You're conflating salvation, justification, sancification and spiritual maturity. As I said, for some people the seed of gospel sprout up immediately, but no one bears fruit immediately; also, yield varies from person to person. Your dualistic view of "saints and ain'ts" only apply to the next life where your name is either written on the Book of Life or not, but not this life.
Only God gets to decide who's clean and who's unclean, not you.
His conversion was the start, not the end.
Yes, and they will fail, five out of seven, including the Ephesian chruch. This is why the Lord himself declared at the end of each of the seven letters to the seven churches: "he who has an ear, let him hear!"
This "submission" requires intentional and mindful effort, otherwise we just submit to our own autopilot mode, like everybody else.
Those who walk in darkness don't believe sin exists, we're all born sinless, it's the fault of the world, the society or our own parents. A true follower of Christ is highly aware of their sin when being scrutizied in the light of Christ. Paul spoke of his struggle in Rom. 7, why did he if he were supposedly in fellowship with God and washed of all sins by the blood? Why was he still a wretched man?
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Carry_Your_Name
Member
"What is truth?" - Pontius Pilate.
You know, there's a difference between "ignore" and "neglect". "Ignore" is intentional, "neglect" is unintentional as a result of forgetfulness, distraction or fear. Therefore if you neglect somebody or something, you wouldn't have known it at the moment.
This is part of how I see you just do not know yet.
Judas was an example, you do not grasp it......he was not made to sin
Here again you brush over the verse that answers your question. You do not read carefully. What was planned was that wicked men were used to sin against Jesus but it accomplished God's design.
You sin everyday.
Do you believe you can stop sinning like Jesus believes people can?
GodsGrace
CF Ambassador
How do you explain this?
There are many mysteries in the reformed faith...
This is because statements such as the one you've made above have no explanation.
God has intelligence, common sense, and wisdom.
To some degree He did make us in His image.
It seems to me it should be possible to actually understand salvation.
So, yes, I believe the bible SHOULD MAKE SENSE to us if we're to believe it.
If some want to believe in concepts that make no sense, then that's up to them.
I would like to repeat that there is no reason for God to give any commands throughout the bible,
IF, in the end, it's all up to HIM to decree what we are to do or not do.
GodsGrace
CF Ambassador
Let's see if we can get somewhere....
What do the words mean?
ORDAINED
DECREED
PREDESTINATED
If God ordains something to happen, how would it not happen?
If God says something will happen, I believe He's sovereign enough to make it happen.
Every Christian believes your last sentence. We all believe that man was predestined to be conformed to be in the image of the Son.
No other denominations believes that God chooses who will be saved and who will be lost.
So you don't believe God predestines everything?
The difference between God ordaining what comes to pass and God making a decree about what happens is a subtle one. According to the Westminster Confession, God has “freely and immutably ordained whatsoever comes to pass” 1. This means that everything that happens in the world is a result of God’s sovereign will and plan.
On the other hand, making a decree about what happens is more like a command or an order. When God makes a decree, He is issuing a directive or a proclamation about what should happen 2. For example, when God decreed that the Israelites should observe the Sabbath, He was giving them a commandment to follow 3.
In essence, both concepts are related to God’s sovereignty and control over the world. However, ordaining what comes to pass is more about God’s overarching plan for the world, while making a decree is more about specific commands or directives that God gives to His people.
I hope this helps clarify the difference between these two concepts.
The answer is found in the fact that although God foreordains whatsoever comes to pass, he causes the bringing of those things to pass in widely different ways. He does not cause the bringing to pass of the actions of personal beings in the same way as the way in which he causes the bringing to pass of events in the physical world.
In essence, God ordains things by having a plan for the world and allowing events to unfold according to His will. However, He also gives humans the freedom to make choices and decisions that can affect the course of history.
On the other hand, making a decree about what happens is more like a command or an order. When God makes a decree, He is issuing a directive or a proclamation about what should happen 2. For example, when God decreed that the Israelites should observe the Sabbath, He was giving them a commandment to follow 3.
In essence, both concepts are related to God’s sovereignty and control over the world. However, ordaining what comes to pass is more about God’s overarching plan for the world, while making a decree is more about specific commands or directives that God gives to His people.
I hope this helps clarify the difference between these two concepts.
The answer is found in the fact that although God foreordains whatsoever comes to pass, he causes the bringing of those things to pass in widely different ways. He does not cause the bringing to pass of the actions of personal beings in the same way as the way in which he causes the bringing to pass of events in the physical world.
In essence, God ordains things by having a plan for the world and allowing events to unfold according to His will. However, He also gives humans the freedom to make choices and decisions that can affect the course of history.
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f wicked actions of wicked men have a place in God’s plan, if they are foreordained of God, then is man responsible for them, and is not God the author of sin?
To each of these questions the Bible returns a very unequivocal answer. Yes, man is responsible for his wicked actions; and no, God is not the author of sin.
That man is responsible for his wicked actions is made so plain from the beginning of the Bible to the end that it is quite useless to cite individual proof texts. But it is equally clear in the Bible that God is not the author of sin. That is clear from the very nature of sin, as rebellion against God’s holy law. It is also expressly taught. “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’” says the Epistle of James, “for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” (James 1:13–14).
How, then, can we meet the difficulty? We have said that God has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. The sinful actions of sinful men are things that come to pass. Yet we deny that God is the author of them and we put the responsibility for them upon man.
How can we possibly do that? Are we not involving ourselves in hopeless contradiction?
Why No Contradiction?
The answer is found in the fact that although God foreordains whatsoever comes to pass, he causes the bringing of those things to pass in widely different ways. He does not cause the bringing to pass of the actions of personal beings in the same way as the way in which he causes the bringing to pass of events in the physical world. That is true even of the good actions of men who are his children. Even when God causes those men to do certain things by the gracious influence of his Holy Spirit, he does not deal with them as with sticks or stones, but he deals with them as with men. He does not cause them to do those things against their will, but he determines their will, and their freedom as persons is fully preserved when they perform those acts. The acts remain their acts, even though they are led to do them by the Spirit of God.
When God causes the bringing to pass of the evil actions of men, he does that in still a different way. He does not tempt the men to sin; he does not influence them to sin. But he causes the bringing to pass of those deeds by the free and responsible choices of personal beings. He has created those beings with the awful gift of freedom of choice. The things that they do in exercise of that gift are their acts. They do not, indeed, surprise God by the doing of them; their doing of them is part of his eternal plan; yet in the doing of them they, and not the holy God, are responsible.
For both, the problem remains. How could a holy God, if he is all-powerful, have permitted the existence of sin?
What shall we do with the problem? I am afraid we shall have to do with it something that is not very pleasing to our pride; I am afraid we shall just have to say that it is insoluble.
Is it so surprising that there are some things that we do not know? God has told us much. He has told us much even about sin. He has told us how at infinite cost, by the gift of his Son, he has provided a way of escape from it. Yes, God has told us much. Is it surprising that he has not told us all? I do not think so, my friends. After all, we are but finite creatures. Is it surprising that there are some mysteries which God in his infinite goodness and wisdom has hidden from our eyes? Is it surprising that there are some things in his counsels about which he has bidden us be content not to know but instead just to trust him who knows all?
This post is adapted from J. Gresham Machen, What is Predestination, (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Seminary Press, 2017), 39–42. Used with permission of the publisher.
To each of these questions the Bible returns a very unequivocal answer. Yes, man is responsible for his wicked actions; and no, God is not the author of sin.
That man is responsible for his wicked actions is made so plain from the beginning of the Bible to the end that it is quite useless to cite individual proof texts. But it is equally clear in the Bible that God is not the author of sin. That is clear from the very nature of sin, as rebellion against God’s holy law. It is also expressly taught. “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’” says the Epistle of James, “for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” (James 1:13–14).
How, then, can we meet the difficulty? We have said that God has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. The sinful actions of sinful men are things that come to pass. Yet we deny that God is the author of them and we put the responsibility for them upon man.
How can we possibly do that? Are we not involving ourselves in hopeless contradiction?
Why No Contradiction?
The answer is found in the fact that although God foreordains whatsoever comes to pass, he causes the bringing of those things to pass in widely different ways. He does not cause the bringing to pass of the actions of personal beings in the same way as the way in which he causes the bringing to pass of events in the physical world. That is true even of the good actions of men who are his children. Even when God causes those men to do certain things by the gracious influence of his Holy Spirit, he does not deal with them as with sticks or stones, but he deals with them as with men. He does not cause them to do those things against their will, but he determines their will, and their freedom as persons is fully preserved when they perform those acts. The acts remain their acts, even though they are led to do them by the Spirit of God.
When God causes the bringing to pass of the evil actions of men, he does that in still a different way. He does not tempt the men to sin; he does not influence them to sin. But he causes the bringing to pass of those deeds by the free and responsible choices of personal beings. He has created those beings with the awful gift of freedom of choice. The things that they do in exercise of that gift are their acts. They do not, indeed, surprise God by the doing of them; their doing of them is part of his eternal plan; yet in the doing of them they, and not the holy God, are responsible.
What is the real difficulty here? Is it the difficulty of harmonizing the free will of the creature with the certainty of the creature’s actions as part of God’s eternal purpose? No, I do not think that is the real difficulty. The real difficulty is the difficulty of seeing how a good and all-powerful God ever could have allowed sin to enter the world that he had created. That difficulty faces not only the consistent and truly biblical view of the divine decree which we have tried to summarize this afternoon, but it also faces the inconsistent views that we have rejected. It can never be used, therefore, as an argument in favor of any one of those inconsistent views and against the consistent view.
For both, the problem remains. How could a holy God, if he is all-powerful, have permitted the existence of sin?
What shall we do with the problem? I am afraid we shall have to do with it something that is not very pleasing to our pride; I am afraid we shall just have to say that it is insoluble.
Is it so surprising that there are some things that we do not know? God has told us much. He has told us much even about sin. He has told us how at infinite cost, by the gift of his Son, he has provided a way of escape from it. Yes, God has told us much. Is it surprising that he has not told us all? I do not think so, my friends. After all, we are but finite creatures. Is it surprising that there are some mysteries which God in his infinite goodness and wisdom has hidden from our eyes? Is it surprising that there are some things in his counsels about which he has bidden us be content not to know but instead just to trust him who knows all?
This post is adapted from J. Gresham Machen, What is Predestination, (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Seminary Press, 2017), 39–42. Used with permission of the publisher.
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