Post Directory…jump links
Introduction
What saves forever——–
The “all-in” type of believing
My take on Luke 9:23
Eternal life starts on the spot
What does not save——-
Sincerely Yielded or Achy Cracked?
Here’s a bit of reverse psychology
This does not save you
Conclusion
FOR MORE
Introduction
When it comes to our salvation, only God can save us. “Not we ourselves.” God saves us… or not. Are you saved?
2 Corinthians 3:4-5 “our adequacy is from God, 6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit….”
God Himself does the work of salvation when we draw near to Him with repentance. There is nothing you can do to earn it. Absolutely nothing.
But we must respond to His offer, as Paul put it – “obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:10, Matthew 19:16).
He offers. We accept. He saves. He empowers. We follow.
Or…
He offers. We reject. He convicts. We reject, reject again, and again….
So then, once we have this salvation, once He is our Lord and Savior, the true believer is exhorted to:
“…continue to work out your salvation [that is, cultivate it, bring it to full effect, actively pursue spiritual maturity] with awe-inspired fear and trembling [using serious caution and critical self-evaluation to avoid anything that might offend God or discredit the name of Christ].
13 For it is [not your strength, but it is] [a]God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:11-13).
That is called sanctification. It is not doing “works” to save you, but rather “works to please Him“. It is not works to earn it, but rather works “for His good pleasure“. Once saved we begin a new life of working with God toward spiritual maturity – “as servants of a new covenant“ NASB… “so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness.”
“…may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you; 13 so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the [e]coming of our Lord Jesus with all His [f]saints.” – 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13
- Salvation is when you give to God a yielded heart, accepting His free gift.
- Sanctification is where you purposely grow yourself into maturity by His Spirit.
______________________ Return to Post Directory
What saves forever——–
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The One-off Offer Jesus makes to everyone
To be saved. Read all in one link or: Matthew 19:16, Mark 10:17, Luke 18:18.
A certain rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked: “…what good thing shall I do so that I may obtain eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16). That is the question of questions. What did Jesus Himself teach on this?
Repent of your sins
According to Jesus and the Bible, what a sinner should do when coming to the brink of salvation is: simply pray to God humbly, with sincerity and truth, repent of your sin, and accept His free gift of forgiveness. And then He keeps His promise… and saves you forever from His condemnation.
Promises God makes about your salvation
God’s simple solution to save sinners is so simple that many cannot accept His offer. But if you are genuinely repentant — He saves you. That’s it. He declares you justified. It’s done!
This is the message Jesus gave for us: God is asking us to repent, and when He does? Oh how marvelous is His grace to us in that moment.
Marvelous grace. To a sinner, what else could be so marvelous? God’s grace, that “un-merited” bestowing of a blessing on me. Just because of Him. Just because He chooses to do so within His Heavenly legal system.
What marvelous grace of the damning God, who would go so far out of His way to “un-condemn” me, to “un-do” His “God damn”, His damnation of me, to save me forever for Himself. To love me – at all. That is the grace of God.
He wants us all to be saved, but our heart – all of it – must be freely yielded to Him in that moment in time.
*See all 4 links in one, or: Mark 12:30, John 3:11-18, Luke 10:27, Romans 10:9-13.
The “all-in” type of believing
Biblical “believing in Jesus” is a special type of “believing”. It means – being all in with all that you are, not just bits and pieces, not just a mental assent. Have you taken the bait for “easybelievism”… instead of a biblical “believe”? (See section below titled: Believing in Jesus like Lucifer the Devil “believes”.)
See: Agreeing with God
Eternal life starts on the spot… as in living a forever life now – right now!
God does not save you — only to re-condemn you when you fall into sin again! What, what what!? What kind of a “salvation” would that be? Not the biblical one, that’s for sure. The salvation of Jesus is stronger than that! When He saves — He saves forever.
See: | Christ secured our eternal home |
| What God secures – You cannot lose | The security of the true believer |
| God Damned “Believers” | Why God rejects anyone |
He knows on the spot, without a doubt in His mind, if you are lacking anything to be saved by Him. The truth is: On the spot He saves or not.
What kind of a sorry-sad god would go back on his word and re-condemn you all-to-Hell again, when he promised to save you! Not the God of the Bible, that’s for sure. Our God “…is faithful and just [true to His own nature and promises]”.
He knows the future. He is not wondering if you will “endure to the end”! He knows, as well as anything – the past, the present, and the future. So why, as some say: Why would He need to wait until we “endure to the end” before seeing for real that we endured, and THEN say, “Whew, the guy made it to the end!” — and then save us?
Like, He can’t see that you will not endure? He can’t see into the future and see that you will be ready, steady and able to stand strong for Him? What a foolish sorry-sad misunderstanding of who God really is.
This is one of my pet peeves. Sorry. But that kind of sorry-sad doctrinal error is robbing many of their confidence. Lame! Those types need to read Romans 8: 37-39 again, and this: Promises God makes about your salvation.
“He saved us, not on the basis of deeds”
1 John 1:9 is a promise from God about your salvation.
1 John 1:9
“If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just [true to His own nature and promises], and will forgive our sins and cleanse us continually from all unrighteousness [our wrongdoing, everything not in conformity with His will and purpose].”
Also, I find this passage helpful, which says we are “justified by His grace“:
4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we did in righteousness, but in accordance with His mercy,
by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He richly poured out upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs [a]according to the hope of eternal life. – Titus 3:4-7
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The thief on the cross next to Jesus freely admitted and confessed that he was sinful. He then asked Jesus to remember him in His Kingdom. THAT simple act was received by Jesus. And that day the thief with a new heart was in Heaven! See: | Thief on the cross | The rest of the story of the thief on the cross |
Jesus only saves the sinning sinner that draws near to Him and sincerely repents. We must be “all in” with Him. It’s a matter of the heart, not a matter of how little or how much we sin. The list of sinning saints is a long list (and you’re on it if you’ve been saved!).”
– Source: What sort of person are you?
In Luke 9:23 (as in Matthew 16:24) Jesus said this about getting into His Holy Kingdom. See it in 3 versions here:
ERV “Any of you who want to be my follower must stop thinking about yourself and what you want. You must be willing to carry the cross that is given to you every day for following me.”
ICB “if anyone wants to follow me, he must say ‘no’ to the things he wants. Every day he must be willing even to die on a cross, and he must follow me.”
I don’t agree with the AMP translation of this passage saying “as my disciple”, Luke 9:23. The AMP says, “If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple]….. – . Of the 63 versions, only four, NIV, NIVUK, EASY and AMP, translate it with “as My disciple“, thus leading some to teach that these requirements are about “discipleship” after salvation – not about salvation itself.
However, all the others, 59 of them, translate it as “come after me”, “come with me” WE, or “follow after me, or “follow me”, or “be my followers” or “walk My path” VOICE. That is 59 to 4. Convinces me!
Pic: Bird on a fence, by Darcy
My take on Luke 9:23 is that it plainly speaks of the requirements of salvation. Basically Jesus was saying …If anyone wants to come with Me to my Holy Kingdom Heaven, then their salvation “must” entail the following. You “must” :
- Deny yourself [set aside selfish interests], and
- Take up his cross daily [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and
- Follow Me [believing in Me,
- Conform to My example in living and,
- If need be, suffer or perhaps die because of faith in Me]. Or as the WE puts it:
“Every day he must take up his cross [be ready to die]”.
Scripture does not teach we can merely mentally assent to “a belief” in Jesus… in order to be saved. Lucifer the Devil “believes” that way! (See section below titled: Believing in Jesus like Lucifer the Devil “believes”.)
He did not say – come however, any way, all faiths, just have faith, just grace alone, just words alone
1. Come to Me however you want to come.
2. Any way of belief is fine with Me: “It’s all good!”
3. All faiths are good enough for me.
4. Just have faith and it will work-out fine in the end.
5. Just rely on His grace alone.
6. Just say the words, and that will save you.
Salvation is an “all or nothing” faith in — and following of Christ and His example of living. Are you truly saved? Your life will surely show it. (James 2:20)
– Source: Being faithful, little by little
1 John 2:3-6
3 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoever follows His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says that he remains in Him ought, himself also, walk just as He walked.
Jesus’ salvation …based on sincerity, truth, and genuine commitment
Salvation is not a Lordship Salvation, nor “Grace alone”, not an Easy-Believism Salvation. The message of Jesus’ salvation shared by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:1-2 is based on repentance from sin, and it is done in your heart with sincerity, truth, and genuine commitment. Your confession of faith must be made with sincerity and truth, and with deep commitment. Or else… your confession is false. Simple and true. See: Acts 17:10-34 verses 30-32.
If I pray to Jesus, but fail to make His ways – my ways, then how true was my “confession” and my promise to follow Him? How sincere was my “repentance”? How true? How sincere? I’d say: not at all! It’s not honest, not sincere – at all. – Source: Sincerity and Truth
As I’ve written before:
“He accepts us in our sin, and then He begins to free us from our sins. He works in our life, moment by moment, to conform us to be more and more like Christ.
If we truly aligned our heart with His heart, then we will follow Him in all our ways.”
– Source: What sort of person are you?
Your acceptance of Jesus is phoney if your followance is phoney. It’s a dead deal from the start! No sincerity? No salvation. Others (and you yourself) may not catch it, but God does. He knows. Your heart is bare open.
That is why 100% of those who genuinely accept Jesus — are forever saved, forever secure in Him… as God told us in 1 John 1:9. It does not require “works” to earn our salvation, but the salvation of Jesus requires we genuinely repent and accept Him.
James’ message agrees with Paul and Jesus, saying, “Faith without works is dead.” (James 2:14-26)
“faith without works [of obedience] is also dead“
You, a sinner needing forgiveness, cannot fool God with your profession of acceptance of His grace, while all along you, a rotten sinner like all the rest of us were (what we used to be) — you were faking your way into God’s graces… and conniving to get into Heaven through some side gate.
There is no side gate. Jesus is the Door to Heaven, and those who want it, must get up and open the door. That is not “works” (opening the door)! That is faith at work.
Read about the fake faith believer:
Fake faith gets you nowhere you want to be
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What does not save ——–
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There exist two roads, two options:
On one side there is the easybelievism fake faith “believer”, still on the road to destruction. And, on the other road, there is the straight and narrow road to Heaven — where walks the truly saved who became a child of the King.
The deal breaker with Jesus is: Not doing what He says! And He knows that before you accept or reject Him!
“Why do you call Me,
‘Lord, Lord,’
and
do not do what I say?”
– Luke 6:46
Sincerely Yielded or Achy Cracked?
Jesus knows all hearts: the heart who comes to Him and builds upon the rock, and the heart who stays far away and builds on sand. There is one who says YES and does follow, and the other who says ‘Lord, Lord,’ and does not do….
God knows. He sees…
* that yielded soul
– that contrite heart repentant | contrite, it’s sincerity, it’s truthfulness, it’s genuine confession.
And, He sees the contrary…
* that cracked heart
– the brittle, cracked heart …it’s quiet reservation, it’s non-committal attitude, it’s outright shameless rebellion, it’s unrepentant, hidden places of secret disobedience.
“For the Lord
searches all hearts
and minds,
and understands
every intent
and inclination
of the thoughts.”
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If we have a heart that holds-back in anything, He knows. The problem for us in this is:
Excerpt: “Jesus left the earth, so He is not physically right next to us to say, ‘Hey! There is one thing that you still lack in order to inherit eternal life.’ So instead of going away sad, some have gone away thinking erroneously that they were saved.”
The achy, achy cracked heart
Are you like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day? Like: the one who went away from Jesus sad, with what I call his achy, achy cracked heart (Matthew 19:22)?
“…The rich young ruler (Mark 10:17; Luke 18:18; Matthew 19:16) turned away from God totally disappointed because he loved his lifestyle – more than he loved Jesus. He thought he had it all together, that he was absolutely ready to meet his Maker.
– Source – adapted: Got a cracked heart?
Do you think you have it all together? Think you are absolutely ready to meet your Maker, God the Most High Holy One? Jesus was physically there to tell the young man that he lacked one thing…. But now the Holy Spirit convicts in the heart and mind… and many are too dull of hearing to hear His warnings (Matthew 15:16).
Too many are bull-headed and so they plow straight ahead without searching their heart and mind. In their heart of hearts they miss a revealing crack of…
- holding-back with something (reservation),
- halfhearted, flippant attitudes (the non-committal),
- ingenuine sorrow for sins (2 Corinthians 7:9-11) (the unrepentant),
- disobedience, rebelliousness, accepting what God rejects (the disobedient).
1 Chronicles 28:9
“As for you, Solomon my son,
know the God of your father
[have personal knowledge of Him,
be acquainted with, and understand Him;
appreciate, heed, and cherish Him]
and serve Him
with a blameless heart and a willing mind;
for the Lord searches all hearts and minds,
and understands every intent and inclination of the thoughts.
If you seek Him
[inquiring for and of Him
and requiring Him as your first and vital necessity]
He will let you find Him;
but if you abandon (turn away from) Him,
He will reject you forever.
– 1 Chronicles 28:9
1 Chronicles 28:9 speaks of the moment of decision (before salvation), where the sinner decides if they will accept Him or “turn away from” Him. It is not referring to one who already has salvation. It speaks of the seeker:
“If you seek Him…He will let you find Him.”
If you, throughout your lifetime, “turn away from” Him — then “He will reject you forever.” Turning away… is the ultimate deal breaker.
Here’s a bit of reverse psychology: how not to get saved
Hasan Almasi – unsplash
If you do not want to be saved (scary thought), then DO NOT follow Jesus. Go join hateful chat rooms, hateful groups. Share your rebellious mind. Keep your mind replete MirrWeb with hate.
In other words: Jesus the Savior absolutely requires sincerity, truth, and genuine commitment to the Savior. He requires that we follow Him. So don’t. Don’t let your mind dwell on what Jesus has called His followers to! So then you will not get saved.
Following Him reveals we gave Him our all. So don’t do that. Then you got it! You DO NOT follow Jesus.
That’s all you need — to be God damned on earth. That is the requirement for Hell. Going to Hell?
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This does not save you:——–
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It is extremely important to know “what does not save you“. The Devil cannot easily deceive you if you know God’s parameters for saving faith. Don’t fall into these traps. See: Why God rejects anyone
This does not save you
* “Believing” without doing.
“Fool!
When will you ever learn
that “believing” is useless
without doing
what God wants you to?
Faith that does not
result in good deeds
is not real faith.
– James 2:20 TLB – Living Bible
A “no-faith faith”
If we have no actual fruit (as a result of salvation), which should be giving evidence of “our faith”, then our supposed faith in Christ is no faith in Christ at all. It’s a fake. It’s a “no-faith faith”. Worthless.
You, “foolish fellow“,
are insanely living a lie.
– Source: The Overcoming Faith of Christ Followers
This does not save you
* Believing in Jesus like Lucifer the Devil “believes”. (Lucifer is also called Satan.)
Satan “believes” in Jesus with a mental assent type believing. But Jesus requires we “believe” in the New Testament sense.
Saving Faith for Saving Grace
THIS believing unto salvation is found in Luke 9:23. This saving belief in Jesus is like taking on the dye of His colors (like a cloth in a dye). We are dyed into all the colors of Jesus – all that He is. A saving belief in Jesus is to:
- Accept all that He is.
- Accept all that He wants.
- Deny our self in order to fit into His Way.
“Satan type” believing in Jesus
The word “believe”, in the New Testament sense, differs drastically from a “Satan type” believing.
Satan believes (with a mental assent belief) that Jesus is who He says He is. He’s been with Jesus in Heaven! So Satan says, “Yah, He is God.” But…
- Satan does not accept all that Jesus is.
- Satan does not deny himself anything.
- Satan demands his own ways.
- Satan keeps his own ways: his own creed, his own set of standards.
- Satan does not love Jesus – at all!
- Satan does not obey Jesus as Lord.
- Satan does not follow Jesus.
- Satan does not commit to Jesus with any part of himself (body, heart, mind, soul, strength).
Do you believe like Satan believes? Think again. We “must” “believe” with a New Testament sense of the word.
The easy-believism of nowadays is not a saving belief at all. It leaves you with the same reward as Satan will get!
Return to section “The “all-in” type of believing“
Return to section “My Take On Luke 9:23”
This does not save you
* Hating and not forgiving others. This is a surprising one! Jesus taught this.
“…He who does not love remains in [spiritual] death.” – 1 John 3:14
“…But if you do not forgive others [nurturing your hurt and anger with the result that it interferes with your relationship with God], then your Father will not forgive your trespasses.” – Matthew 6:14-15
See: | 1 John 3:14, Matthew 6:14-15, Matthew 18:35 | Hating is life changing – eternal life changing. Scary thought. |
Staying in hate is like refusing to repent of your sin. You MUST repent of all sin. You give it up, confess it, turn from it – to the love of Jesus. It’s not merely having warm fuzzy feelings toward someone. The love of Jesus in us is shown by choosing to act in “agape” love. Learning to love is livelong. It is part of “conforming to My example in living“. *See passages
This does not save you
* “Following another gospel”.
This does not save you
* Religious practices that God has condemned. (2 Peter 1:20-21)
A common NAR-type practice is Making God Speak. Are you pretending your words are God’s Words? Are you pretending to have dreams and visions from God, when they are not? God is against you for that.
See: | The Controversy of God Speaking To You Directly |
| This is God speaking (satire) |
You cannot make God move (2 Peter 1:20-21). You cannot work up a “word of the Lord”. No matter how intensely you want it, no act of your own will, an “act of human will”, can make God speak (2 Peter 1:20-21).
Really? You make God speak?!
This does not save you
* Being an idolater. “An idolater is someone who somehow makes a substitute for God. Something other than God takes first place in the idolater’s heart. – Source: The one who is an idolater
You can get into idolatry by “…loving anything more than God, or, participating in anything that leads to sin and enslaves the soul…” – Verse 14 of 1 Corinthians 10:9-14.
“For this you know with certainty,
that no immoral or
impure person or
covetous man,
who is an idolater,
has an inheritance in
the kingdom of Christ and God.”
– Ephesians 5:5
This does not save you
* Practices of the flesh. See: | God’s Sin List | God’s List of Unacceptables | Bad Fruit | Claiming a sin as God’s will for you | Flesh and blood absolutely cannot inherit the Kingdom of God | Take a stance on homosexuality – like Jesus did
This does not save you
* The “cracked heart“: What many fail to see in themselves
- holding-back with something (reservation),
- halfhearted, flippant attitudes (the non-committal),
- ingenuine sorrow for sins (2 Corinthians 7:9-11) (the unrepentant),
- disobedience, rebelliousness, accepting what God rejects (the disobedient)
- dublicitousness MirWebster.
This does not save you
* Not being all “in” for Him.
If I’m not all “in” for Him, my faith is dead (James 2:20). You are “all in” or you are “all out” – lost still. It shows up when you love Jesus less than other things, when you love the world. Are you examining yourself deeply. What escapes your notice? You missing what is keeping your soul damned to Hell?
This does not save you
* Rejecting God’s offer of salvation. Well, this is an obvious one! “condemned and sentenced”
Reject Him once, you may get another chance. Reject Him till tomorrow… and tomorrow may never come. Reject Him more, and He may give you your freedom reins to ride as-you-will into the sunset, on your own, enslaved by sin.
This does not save you
* Keeping sin – playing with sin. See: | Keeping sin | Keeping sin AND getting God’s Holiness also | 1 John 1:8 |
You cannot expect Jesus to let you waltz into Heaven with your sin. Ain’t happen’n. He is holy.
If God has labeled something “sinful” on earth, then how in the Heavens are you going to argue Him into a corner till He gives-in to you, a mere puny human mudman? Give it up.
Acknowledge you are sinful, repent – turn from it, and turn to Him for His mercy and grace. God can forgive any and all sins you may be dealing with. Go to Him. Sincerely and truthfully throw yourself on His grace and mercy.
Conclusion
As Paul said: What we want is the word of Christ “permeating every aspect of your being.” That is the evidence showing our confession was real.
Sinlessness is not the evidence. All believers continue to sin.
The evidence is “Christ in you the hope of glory”, with the fruit of His Spirit flowing out from inside your insides. See: Galatians 5:22-23 and James 3:17.
But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…. – Galatians 5:22-23
17 But the wisdom from above is first pure [morally and spiritually undefiled], then peace-loving [courteous, considerate], gentle, reasonable [and willing to listen], full of compassion and good fruits. It is unwavering, without [self-righteous] hypocrisy [and self-serving guile]. – James 3:17
After salvation, the works inevitably come through by His Spirit within you… with what you become, what you really really are, maturing inside your insides. Un-becoming, and becoming. Those are the works that follow true salvation. 1
If my happiness depended on anything but Christ, I would always find something to wallow in, like a pig mired in mud and likin’ it. I probably would have gone stark raving mad a long time ago, if not for my faith in Christ, and His forgiving, His healing and His empowering grace pouring over me.
There is no dependable factor out there, no “this is it” moment – except through God Almighty.
– Source: My Happy
What I am is what I make of it.
How I act towards others,
what I reflect to others
with my demeanor,
my face, my voice and inflections,
my attitude, my actions…
are all the parts of what make me who I am.
– Source: This is it
“Let the [spoken] word of Christ have its home within you [dwelling in your heart and mind—permeating every aspect of your being]….”
– Colossians 3:16
Top PIC from unsplash.com
FOR MORE:
What really truly is necessary for you to be saved? Jesus gave us His parameters. There are limits to His grace. Don’t get shut-out because of them. His mercy is huge, so today – all on earth still have a choice to make. The day of “it’s too late” is just around the corner!
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Keeping sin AND getting God’s Holiness also
Claiming a sin as God’s will for you
God eventually gives you a free rein
We don’t get into a Holy Kingdom by sinning
What escapes your notice? Excerpt: In your opinions, harangues, commenting, social media personas — what escapes your notice? Well, you didn’t notice, did you?! Ha! (2 Peter 3)
Why God is against me if I claim my words are God’s own
About Satan… a series on our Enemy
The controversy of God speaking directly to you
Why God is against me if I claim my words are God’s own
False Prophets | by Diane S. Dew
Was your confession accepted by God?
Claiming a sin as God’s will for you
There is no other saving gospel
Being faithful, little by little
Acknowledge God and consider Him worth knowing
The Gift by His Precious, Undeserved Grace
God’s grace teaches us to reject sin
The Controversy of God Speaking To You Directly
God spoke through prophets and Jesus – the greatest of all
Getting born again …He loved us so much that He provided legal forgiveness for any who choose to follow Him.
God’s message to the world …giving all of you – for all of Him. Nothing less is good enough for our Holy Holy Holy God.
Staying Alive …If the core of your being rejects parts and pieces of what Christ taught, then you have no salvation.
Promises God makes about your salvation
Oh how marvelous …is His grace
Christ secured our eternal home
What God secures – You cannot lose
The security of the true believer
Mark 12:28-31 “What commandment is the foremost of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord;
30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (And also: Deuteronomy 6:5; Luke 10:27)
Rewards in Heaven… Matthew 19:28-30
28 Jesus said to them, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, in the renewal [that is, the Messianic restoration and regeneration of all things] when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, you [who have followed Me, becoming My disciples] will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother [d]or children or farms for My name’s sake will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first [in this world] will be last [in the world to come]; and the last, first.
Footnotes
- From a biblical point of view of our spiritual life, when we turn to Jesus we are miraculously changed in an instant with new birth in Christ. We get “born again”, as Jesus explained it in John 3. We stop living between two opinions.
The truth is: We are not right with God – until we are born again. It is THEN, once we are legally forgiven in God’s Courts – a life-long process begins (called “sanctification”).
It is THEN, with the Holy Spirit inside us, that we begin to “work out” (Philippians 2:12) being more and more like Christ in our daily living. That’s the Christian’s journey. We will stumble. We will fail, sin. But we do not accept sin as okay before God. We repent… and move on renewed by His Spirit.
The good fight is the Spirit-filled “un-becoming” life (as per Paulo Coelho’s usage, not the common usage unbecoming!), where little by little we undo the ways of the enemies of our soul.
We become more and more faithful. We become more and more like Jesus – living righteous… what we are meant to be. – Source: Un-becoming.
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