Below is the daily Bible reading I am doing for West Side. Feel free to follow along.
Today’s reading (Psalms 15 & 16) lays out how one can dwell in the Sanctuary of God. When I think of dwelling in the Sanctuary of God, I am imagine being in the prescience of God himself. So how does one dwell in the Sanctuary of God, by upholding the list David gives.
Walking blameless
Speaking truth
No slander on the tongue
Does his neighbor no wrong
No slur on his fellowman
Honors those who fear the LORD
Who lends his money without usury
As well as a few other things.
So are you able to keep that 100% of the time? Do you ever fear that you will not get to dwell in the Sanctuary of God? You shouldn’t. You see, Christ came to remove sin. Christ's death on the cross, and his resurrection from the dead paid the price for the times when you don’t keep these things. This is justification. At baptism you have been justified. In the eyes of God, you are 100% righteous. When you do slip up, you must have a repentant heart, but you have been forgiven. That is why there is nothing you can do to save yourself. Christ did the work so you can dwell in the Sanctuary of God.
3 comments:
Michael,
There is a problem with the comment section. I have to sign in and get a password each time.
I agree with your thoughts on justification. I once got myself in big trouble at a C.O.C. Sunday school class. We were studying Joshua chapter one. Be strong and courageous. One very nice man, maybe a seeker, not a Christian. Asked a question of the elder giving the class. He asked, ""I will never leave you nor forsake you" is that right? He will never leave me."" The elder stated, Well if you work real hard and serve then He will never leave you. I was strong and courageous and strongly disagreed. The nice friendly people in the class became unfriendly and threw daggers with their eyes. Not good.
Any thoughts? Greg
Greg,
I believe you will have to log in each time you comment unless you want to anonymously. You might be able to have blogger remember your password if you do not want to sign in.
I believe that elder was wrong. I believe that once you are saved you have to work really hard to loose that salvation. You can, but it takes completely denouncing Christ as savior and possibly denying the existence of God. As long as you have faith, as long as you continue to have faith, you are saved. There is nothing we do, other than have faith and allow ourselves to be baptized, that saves us. It is the work of Christ. This is justification.
Now are works do not save us, but they are a manifestation of our faith. If we truly love God, then we are going to live for him. Part of living for him is growing in him, and serving him and his people. This is sanctification.
Once we enter into the covenant of salvation with God, we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit, this means God is with us. So I would say that elder was wrong. It is unfortunate that many of our churches teach an incorrect doctrine of salvation. I am thankful that you are a strong Christian and the daggers did not cut too deep.
My official position is this: Once you are saved you can loose your salvation but it is something that takes a concentrated effort. I believe it is at baptism that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit takes place. From there God is with you. Your works did not save you, and thus they do not maintain your salvation, but they do show the level of your faith. Hope all that makes sense.
This is Greg. I write my user name and password every time but it won't let me in.
Anyway, Thanks for your comments. I was accused of being a baptist and a calvinist. At the time, I did not know what a calvinist was. I drove 40 miles home yelling and crying out to God. I studied more on the basis that I must be wrong. After studying, I believe they are wrong.
I do not believe that once someone is truly saved, he or she can lose salvation. I believe it is ok to believe differently as long as we believe the same concerning regeneration, a changed life, a new life. I hate denominationalism, demonizationalism. What a terrible sin.
The question I ask myself is why? Why tell someone they can lose salvation? That Jesus saved you, we did not save our 'selves' and that He is the One responsible to keep us. We cannot keep our 'selves'. We are a filthy bunch. Depravity and All.
It can only be that we want to excuse our lack of regeneration. We use fear to control an unregenerate person. We know that a real Christian can sin, but they cannot stay in sin, it will sicken them and the Holy spirit will correct a true believer, like a good father will correct a son.
I believe most use the "fall away "verse in Hebrews. I disagree with that translation. I believe the writer of Hebrews is speaking as a pastor speaks to his church. A pastor uses the term brothers to describe his congregation. Knowing well that not all are his Christian brothers. In Hebrews the writer is describing how Christianity is superior to Judaism. In parts, he is refering to his jewish brothers and in other parts he is referring to his Christian brothers.
This does not mean that I demand everyone believe what I do and tow the party line.
The worst is the pastor is a really good friend. The next few Sundays, his sermons dealt with what the congregation was to believe. I begged him not to, I asked him to preach on examine youselves daily to see that you are in the faith. He did not listen.
In Christ Jesus,
Greg
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