Time to post this for those who are interested, seeking, or confused.
Justification
The issue is how is a man justified before God. Once this is settled then one should have no trouble with eternal security.
I would like to break it down to four areas:
1. What Is Justification
2. Where Do I Go In the Bible To Get Justification?
3. My Duty After Justification
4. Closing Remarks
I. What is Justification?
A. The Problem
I was born a sinner -Rom. 3:23, dead in trespasses in sin - Eph. 2:1, at enmity with God -Rom. 8, blinded - II Cor. 4:4), dead to spiritual things - I Cor. 2:14), not seeking God - Rom. 3:8 and on my way to a lake of fire because of the sin that dwelt in me - Rom. 5:12; Rev. 20:15. There was nothing I could do to get out of this mess - Rom. 4:5; Eph. 2:8,9; Tit. 3:5
B. The Provision
Because of sin God has to judge sin and the penalty for sin. Something or someone has to be the sin payment in order for man to be redeemed from death in hell for eternity. In the OT God provided the sacrifices so their sins could be overlooked for a time. But God is gracious in that He desires to display His love and mercy. Man cannot meet the requirements that God demands -Tit. 3:5; Rom. 3:10-12; Isa. 64:6; Psa. 39:5. The law cannot redeem man - Rom. 8:3; Gal. 2:21; 3:11,12. God has to provide a blood substitute and it has to be perfect blood to redeem imperfect man - Acts 20:28. The only way to redeem man is to have a perfect man redeem imperfect man and that man is the man Christ Jesus who became our sin substitute on Cavalry - Rom. 5:8; II Cor. 5:21. When Christ hung on the cross he became sin for us. The wrath of God that poured out on Christ should have been for us but Christ took our place - II Cor. 5:21. Andrias Tobias in the 1600's said, “All God's wrath was poured out on Christ so there is none left for the believerâ€.
C. The Deliverance
Then one day I was given the gospel - I Cor. 15:1-5; God took the blinders off - Rom. 10:17; II Cor. 4:5,6; God gave me the faith of Jesus Christ - Eph. 2:8,9; Rom. 3:22; Gal. 2:16; enabled me to believe - Eph. 1:13; regenerated me - Tit. 3:5; reconciled me -Rom. 5:10; spiritually circumcised me - Col. 2:10-12; sealed me - Eph. 1:13; put me into the body of Christ - Eph. 4:5; Col. 2:10-12; glorified me - Rom. 8:30; redeemed me - Col. 1:14; Gal. 3:13; made me an adopted son - Rom. 8:15; made me accepted in the beloved - Eph. 1:6; blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ - Eph. 1:3; forgave me - Eph. 1:7; raised me up - Eph. 2:6; made me bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh - Eph. 5:30; gave me an inheritance - Eph. 1:11, came in to me - Col. 1:27, and completed me - Col. 2:10 and a few more that we don't have to go into now.
II. Where Do I Go in the Bible To Get Justification?
First of all let me make something very clear for I will seek to head off something before I go any further – I believe All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: - I believe all the Bible – I believe the King James Bible I have in my hands is inspired down to the punctuation, italicized words, and chapter headings. I do not believe the writers of the Bible were inspired but what they put down, as directed by the Holy Ghost, was inspired. I do not believe the King James translators were inspired but what they put down by God's providential hand was and is inspired (and please do not seek to point out the arguments against the AV1611 for I have heard them all and they don't keep me awake long enough to yawn.). I read the entire Bible and believe the entire Bible. The reason for the above is that others and myself have been accuse of using just portions of the Bible and throwing out the rest.
I understand that the entire Bible is for me but………not necessarily written to me. I understand that first of all I have to find out what is doctrine for me and for others first. Illustration – how many of you have been to the Tabernacle lately to sacrifice a lamb? How many of you have sat down lately and pigged out on some good fried catfish – yum! How many of you have been rebellious children - Duet. 21:18,19? You say you don't have to worry about it – good, things change don't they and aren't you glad for it. God deals differently with different people in different ages. I am not Abraham looking for a city. I am not a Jew under the OT law anymore. I am not a Jew in the gospels looking for my Messiah. I am not a Jew in the OT, the gospels, or the early part of Acts looking for a physical kingdom. In the OT the Jew had to mix faith with the law and trust God to overlook his sins based upon how he observed the law. The OT Jew knew nothing of Calvary – all he knew that one-day a king would come and bring in a kingdom.
Now, Jesus shows up one day preaching the gospel of the kingdom (not the gospel of the grace of God which Paul preached). The Jews' duty was to believe Jesus was the messiah and get baptized to show they believed it. They, even the disciples, knew nothing about Christ dying for sins (see Luke 18:32-34). Christ dies, is buried, and is raised from the dead. In Acts 2 Peter preaches repentance regarding the Jews rejection and murder of Jesus but even he at that time he does not understand what happened at Calvary regarding sins and forgiveness.
When Israel officially rejects Christ in Acts 7 then God calls out a murdering Pharisee, regenerates him, and gives him a new commission that no one else got – he (Paul) was to preach the gospel of the grace of God to both Jew and Gentile. After several appearances of Christ to Paul (Acts 26:16; II Tim. 1:10) then Paul preached forgiveness based upon the finished work of Jesus Christ and that a man was justified by the faith of Jesus Christ without the deeds of the law.
During his second prison stay he wrote the prison epistles and because of Eph., Phil., Col. I& II Timothy we understand what Jesus gave to Paul in regards to the church and how to live because of what we are in Christ (Eph. 4:1). The gospel that saves comes from Paul – Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose again the third day (Acts 16:31). Why would one go to the OT or the gospels (before Christ was even crucified), grab a message that was meant for Israel under a kingdom gospel to get the plan of salvation for today!!!???!!! Just go to Paul for he got his message from Christ so what Paul speaks are essentially the words of Christ.
III. My Duty After Justification
Real clear – walk worthy - Eph. 4:1; live godly - Tit. 2:12, be not conformed to this world - Rom. 12:2; study - II Tim. 2:15; pray - Phil. 4:6; forgive others - Eph. 4:32; love my wife (Eph. 5); witness - II Cor. 5:20; be thankful - I Thess. 5:18, and the list goes on and on. So I don't just stop at believing for after believing and being saved the real work begins - Phil. 2:12.
IV. Closing Remarks
As you can see salvation is not dependent upon anything man can do. Man is justified by what Christ did at Calvary alone. Because he did nothing to earn salvation he can do nothing to lose what is not his. The work was not the sinners but Christ's, the faith the sinner exercised was not his but Christ's Rom. 3:22, Eph. 2:8,9, the sealing was not the sinners but Christ's so what was left for man to do? All the sinner could do was to take God at His word that Christ did it all.
And anybody who thinks after reading the above thinks that he can still lose his salvation after all that Christ has done is just trusting in his own merits.. Yes, I have heard all the verses you use to teach one can lose his salvation but if you take what Paul says you are secure.
Justification
The issue is how is a man justified before God. Once this is settled then one should have no trouble with eternal security.
I would like to break it down to four areas:
1. What Is Justification
2. Where Do I Go In the Bible To Get Justification?
3. My Duty After Justification
4. Closing Remarks
I. What is Justification?
A. The Problem
I was born a sinner -Rom. 3:23, dead in trespasses in sin - Eph. 2:1, at enmity with God -Rom. 8, blinded - II Cor. 4:4), dead to spiritual things - I Cor. 2:14), not seeking God - Rom. 3:8 and on my way to a lake of fire because of the sin that dwelt in me - Rom. 5:12; Rev. 20:15. There was nothing I could do to get out of this mess - Rom. 4:5; Eph. 2:8,9; Tit. 3:5
B. The Provision
Because of sin God has to judge sin and the penalty for sin. Something or someone has to be the sin payment in order for man to be redeemed from death in hell for eternity. In the OT God provided the sacrifices so their sins could be overlooked for a time. But God is gracious in that He desires to display His love and mercy. Man cannot meet the requirements that God demands -Tit. 3:5; Rom. 3:10-12; Isa. 64:6; Psa. 39:5. The law cannot redeem man - Rom. 8:3; Gal. 2:21; 3:11,12. God has to provide a blood substitute and it has to be perfect blood to redeem imperfect man - Acts 20:28. The only way to redeem man is to have a perfect man redeem imperfect man and that man is the man Christ Jesus who became our sin substitute on Cavalry - Rom. 5:8; II Cor. 5:21. When Christ hung on the cross he became sin for us. The wrath of God that poured out on Christ should have been for us but Christ took our place - II Cor. 5:21. Andrias Tobias in the 1600's said, “All God's wrath was poured out on Christ so there is none left for the believerâ€.
C. The Deliverance
Then one day I was given the gospel - I Cor. 15:1-5; God took the blinders off - Rom. 10:17; II Cor. 4:5,6; God gave me the faith of Jesus Christ - Eph. 2:8,9; Rom. 3:22; Gal. 2:16; enabled me to believe - Eph. 1:13; regenerated me - Tit. 3:5; reconciled me -Rom. 5:10; spiritually circumcised me - Col. 2:10-12; sealed me - Eph. 1:13; put me into the body of Christ - Eph. 4:5; Col. 2:10-12; glorified me - Rom. 8:30; redeemed me - Col. 1:14; Gal. 3:13; made me an adopted son - Rom. 8:15; made me accepted in the beloved - Eph. 1:6; blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ - Eph. 1:3; forgave me - Eph. 1:7; raised me up - Eph. 2:6; made me bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh - Eph. 5:30; gave me an inheritance - Eph. 1:11, came in to me - Col. 1:27, and completed me - Col. 2:10 and a few more that we don't have to go into now.
II. Where Do I Go in the Bible To Get Justification?
First of all let me make something very clear for I will seek to head off something before I go any further – I believe All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: - I believe all the Bible – I believe the King James Bible I have in my hands is inspired down to the punctuation, italicized words, and chapter headings. I do not believe the writers of the Bible were inspired but what they put down, as directed by the Holy Ghost, was inspired. I do not believe the King James translators were inspired but what they put down by God's providential hand was and is inspired (and please do not seek to point out the arguments against the AV1611 for I have heard them all and they don't keep me awake long enough to yawn.). I read the entire Bible and believe the entire Bible. The reason for the above is that others and myself have been accuse of using just portions of the Bible and throwing out the rest.
I understand that the entire Bible is for me but………not necessarily written to me. I understand that first of all I have to find out what is doctrine for me and for others first. Illustration – how many of you have been to the Tabernacle lately to sacrifice a lamb? How many of you have sat down lately and pigged out on some good fried catfish – yum! How many of you have been rebellious children - Duet. 21:18,19? You say you don't have to worry about it – good, things change don't they and aren't you glad for it. God deals differently with different people in different ages. I am not Abraham looking for a city. I am not a Jew under the OT law anymore. I am not a Jew in the gospels looking for my Messiah. I am not a Jew in the OT, the gospels, or the early part of Acts looking for a physical kingdom. In the OT the Jew had to mix faith with the law and trust God to overlook his sins based upon how he observed the law. The OT Jew knew nothing of Calvary – all he knew that one-day a king would come and bring in a kingdom.
Now, Jesus shows up one day preaching the gospel of the kingdom (not the gospel of the grace of God which Paul preached). The Jews' duty was to believe Jesus was the messiah and get baptized to show they believed it. They, even the disciples, knew nothing about Christ dying for sins (see Luke 18:32-34). Christ dies, is buried, and is raised from the dead. In Acts 2 Peter preaches repentance regarding the Jews rejection and murder of Jesus but even he at that time he does not understand what happened at Calvary regarding sins and forgiveness.
When Israel officially rejects Christ in Acts 7 then God calls out a murdering Pharisee, regenerates him, and gives him a new commission that no one else got – he (Paul) was to preach the gospel of the grace of God to both Jew and Gentile. After several appearances of Christ to Paul (Acts 26:16; II Tim. 1:10) then Paul preached forgiveness based upon the finished work of Jesus Christ and that a man was justified by the faith of Jesus Christ without the deeds of the law.
During his second prison stay he wrote the prison epistles and because of Eph., Phil., Col. I& II Timothy we understand what Jesus gave to Paul in regards to the church and how to live because of what we are in Christ (Eph. 4:1). The gospel that saves comes from Paul – Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose again the third day (Acts 16:31). Why would one go to the OT or the gospels (before Christ was even crucified), grab a message that was meant for Israel under a kingdom gospel to get the plan of salvation for today!!!???!!! Just go to Paul for he got his message from Christ so what Paul speaks are essentially the words of Christ.
III. My Duty After Justification
Real clear – walk worthy - Eph. 4:1; live godly - Tit. 2:12, be not conformed to this world - Rom. 12:2; study - II Tim. 2:15; pray - Phil. 4:6; forgive others - Eph. 4:32; love my wife (Eph. 5); witness - II Cor. 5:20; be thankful - I Thess. 5:18, and the list goes on and on. So I don't just stop at believing for after believing and being saved the real work begins - Phil. 2:12.
IV. Closing Remarks
As you can see salvation is not dependent upon anything man can do. Man is justified by what Christ did at Calvary alone. Because he did nothing to earn salvation he can do nothing to lose what is not his. The work was not the sinners but Christ's, the faith the sinner exercised was not his but Christ's Rom. 3:22, Eph. 2:8,9, the sealing was not the sinners but Christ's so what was left for man to do? All the sinner could do was to take God at His word that Christ did it all.
And anybody who thinks after reading the above thinks that he can still lose his salvation after all that Christ has done is just trusting in his own merits.. Yes, I have heard all the verses you use to teach one can lose his salvation but if you take what Paul says you are secure.