If someone doubts that they are a
believer of the gospel, because they sin, then they do not understand the
gospel.
How so? "He that says I know Him
and keepeth not His Commandments is a liar
and the truth is not in him" (1
John 2:4) Liars don't inherit the Kingdom Andrew.
The WHOLE point of the gospel, is
that Christ came to save filthy vile hell-deserving sinners who will continue
to sin after their conversion (their change of mind to the truth).
Ditto. The change is
supposed to go a lot deeper than the mind Andrew and those
who choose the fear of the Lord
are to "awake to righteousness and sin not"
The LAW was NEVER meant to
be the grounds of someone's assurance before God. By it is the knowledge of
sin. By it Christians are convicted of sin.
The law was given to teach the
"fear of God" (Deut 4:10) and it was to be read to
Israel every 7yrs so that the
children would hear and learn to fear the Lord (Deut 31:13)
But how do we know their is a
Law? How do you know their is such a thing called sin? Where did you read that
adultery is wrong, drunkenness is rebellion, and bitterness is abominable? By
the Word of God. Well, doesn't the Word also say, "By His knowledge
shall My righteous servant justify many" and "HE SHALL BEAR THEIR
INIQUITIES" (Isa53). So if you have the knowledge of Christ, you are
justified.
Hold up Andrew! You can't take
one passage and run with it making it say something
the author never intended because
scripture must be understood in the light of other
scripture. Yes Jesus knew enough
to stay the course and become a sacrifice for you and me when he could have
yeilded to temptation or chosen his own flesh in the garden.
If you believe that Christ
was a ransom for many, your iniquities are as far as west is from east.
You are doing it again Andrew -
running off with the part you like and ignoring the rest.
Psalm 103:12,13,14 is where the
above is taken from "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he
removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so
the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth
that we are dust"
Looks to me like something is
missing from your gospel Andrew. There should be a little fear of God in
there which to start with is the beginning of wisdom (Prov 1:7) and
which causes one to depart from evil (Prov 3:7, Prov 16:6)
How can you doubt? How can you
doubt God? He can't lie. He knows everything. And He says that ALL
who believe in Christ ARE .... no pause ... they ARE JUSTIFIED from ALL
THINGS that they could not be justified by the Law of Moses (Acts 13:39). To
doubt His testimony is to spit in his face (so to speak), call Him a Liar, and
blaspheme against the Holy Spirit.
I don't doubt God Andrew - I
adhere to His whole counsel, not just part. Yes Jesus died to justify
many - The law of Moses was weak but only because of
our flesh.
Recently, someone tried to tell
me that the NT Hebrew Christians doubted their salvation, because they
were wondering whether or not Christ had atoned for their wicked
Judaism prior to their conversions. Now, I agree that converted Jews
would have been convicted of the apostasy of their past Judaism.
And this conviction arose from the Bible. The believing Jews in
Rome would have been convicted by Romans 10. Here, God judges Israel
apostate. He basically says Israel is full of Pharisees and hypocrites
IGNORANT of the righteousness of God. But does God stop there,
leaving all the Jews dead in their sins? Without faith,
without hope, without God in the world? No. God never sends someone
the Law without the Gospel.
Andrew do you have a problem with
Jews?
And imagine
one converted Jew -- who we'll call Yechezkel -- reading Romans
10. Yechezkel would have been reminded that when he was an apostate Jew, he
had NOT been "submitted to the righteousness of God" and that he had
been "ignorant of the righteousness of God". Yechezkel have would be
convicted that he had been an Atheist, with NO knowledge or understanding of
God (Romans 10:2). He had been BLIND. In Satan's grip. Dead in sins.
Anti-Christian. A God-hater. A liar against God. A blasphemer against the Holy
Spirit.
But this was all past for
Yechezkel. He now believed that Jesus FULFILLED the prophecies of Old. He know
believed that Christ was the END of the Law for righteousness. God had
revealed to Yechezkel (by the Spirit testifying to the Word) that Christ
fulfilled and magnified the Law for EVERYONE -- ALL those -- who have
believed, do believe, and will believe. And only those who believe and are sure that He is the
Christ, have His righteousness in their account. God condemns doubters
as lost. Romans 10:6: Do not say in your heart, Who will go into heaven?
Romans 14:23 He that doubts ... is damned.
Yes .. and so is he who clutches
a doctrine of men giving lip service while continuing to walk where he has
always walked. Religious flesh is just as damned (Matt 13:13-15)
Yet, our imaginary friend
Yechezkel has as much certainty that he will be heaven that Abraham
is already. Yechezkel only knows both of these truths by the Word.
He's never seen Abraham in heaven. But God tells him that Abraham is. And
guess what? God also says that not only was Abraham justified by His faith
(that is, justified by who he believed in, Christ), but so is EVERYONE who
believes.
I would hope Yechezkel also knows
"by the Word" that he is to "awake to righteousness and sin not" because it is
possible for one to be found professing Christ while denying Him ATST by his
deeds. The one who is righteous DOES righteousness (1 John 3:7,8). He
that says I know Him and keepeth not His Commandments is a liar (1 John
2:3,4)
Because if you confess the
Lord Jesus with your mouth, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from
the dead, YOU WILL BE
SAVED.
PS - So long as you are steadfast
- learn to understand the fear of the Lord and endure rather than
fall back into perdition like a dog who goes back to his vomit
or a pig who
continues wallowing in the mire.
Andrew Bain
Sydney,
Australia
