No, we live in what the bible called the age to come.
An age where grace and forgiveness rules.
Free Will is our choice to believe what God said is true and walk in that. Or to allow our fears to eat away at what God freely gives us.
Daniel Chapter 9:24 says
The Jews have seventy sevens to do six things. (notice this was written to the Jews not to the rest of the world) It was pointing to Jesus.
to finish transgression
to put an end to sin
3)to atone for wickedness
4)to bring in everlasting righteousness
5)to seal up vision and prophecy
To anoint the Most Holy One
Jesus has done all of that.
Jesus has brought in everlasting righteousness. Our sins are no longer counted against us.
That does not mean that we have lost our free will. We will always have free will.
Some people seem to think that Jesus will return and we will no longer sin. Are they saying that we will no longer sin because free will was taken away? Or are they saying that because we see God we will not sin?
Adam and Eve were walking and talking with God and yet they sinned. Will we be any different then them?
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory!
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
Our righteousness even with our new nature will never be enough. We will always have free will. With free will there will always be the ability to sin.
The only lasting solution is the Grace of God.
Where our sin is no longer counted against us.
We are just called to trust in Him
Agreed, but we have a part to play, as well - Trusting enough to obey, not perfectly, (Yet!) but with a pursuit of Him that is whole hearted. We will have no desire to sin when the new heavens and the new earth come, and some will have no desire to sin even before that, when the event described in the passage quoted above comes to fruition.
When I talk about trusting God I am not talking about just saying some words. I mean trusting God.
Let me try to explain.
Back in 1979 I was not a very good person. Just to keep this simple one moment I was not a believer the next moment I was.
I did not know anything about church or what I was "supposed" to do. I did not "repent" by confessing my sins.
I spent the next couple of months reading the bible, praying and seeking God. I found that I did not want to lie or cheat because I knew it was not life.
For me there was amazing joy just knowing that God was real and he loved me.
My girlfriend (who is now my wife) also became a Christian.
For the first month or so I didn't talk to anybody. Except my girlfriend. Not because I didn't want to but because I was seeking God every moment I had.
It may sound boring to you but it was the best time of my life. I was walking in pure joy.
Then I went to visit a friend that did not know what had happened with me.
I knocked on his door. When he opened it he took a step back and say you're different, I want what you have. So he is also a Christian.
Then someone told me about Christian churches. Talk about being clueless. I just didn't know.
I go to church and I hear that in order to be a Christian I need to pray at least 15 minutes a day, Read my bible every day, Repent of my sins. On and On.
So I thought I was doing great. I easily prayed 15 minutes a day. I was always reading my bible. I wasn't sure if I repented the way I was "supposed" to. So I told God I was a sinner and asked Him to forgive my sins.
Things changed after that. Instead of praying because I wanted to be with God I was checking my watch to make sure I was praying for at least 15 minutes. I was checking how much time I was reading my bible.
In other words what was a joy became a law that I had to follow.
To keep it simple I was completely deceived. I don't blame anybody, it was my choice to be deceived. I look back now and I realize that I wanted to be sure that I was walking with God. I no longer trusted that He was speaking to me. Maybe I was making it all up.
I started to do more things for the church. We had a youth group that was growing fast. I poured my life into it
What was really happening was not good. I replaced Loving God with repenting of my sins by doing good works. It all sounded holy and right.
A few years later I was falling apart on the inside. I wanted so much to be perfect in his eyes. I just couldn't do it. I failed at being perfect over and over.
Finally I just gave up. I told God that I couldn't follow Him anymore because I was a complete failure.
That is when I heard Him say, When did I tell you to do these things? Return to your first love.
So when I say that trusting God is all we need to be saved I am saying that from my understanding of trusting God instead of what we can do to be right with Him.
So... Christ will not return, and we'll just be living in this nominal, depraved world and just be content with "grace"? I'm sorry, but I just don't follow.
We are called to Worship in Spirit and Truth.
We have to question why do we think we need to See Him in order to worship Him?
I believe Jesus will return but not in flesh (Just to be clear He can do whatever He wants).
We were created to live in the Garden. My belief is that in some way we are returning to a garden. Just like the Garden of Eden.
I don't know how that will happen I just know that the 2,000 year gap is a money maker for the people that push it.
It is also used to justify political things going on in the Middle East.
No, we live in what the bible called the age to come.
An age where grace and forgiveness rules.
Free Will is our choice to believe what God said is true and walk in that. Or to allow our fears to eat away at what God freely gives us.
Daniel Chapter 9:24 says The Jews have seventy sevens to do six things. (notice this was written to the Jews not to the rest of the world) It was pointing to Jesus.
to finish transgression
to put an end to sin
3)to atone for wickedness
4)to bring in everlasting righteousness
5)to seal up vision and prophecy
Jesus has done all of that.
Jesus has brought in everlasting righteousness. Our sins are no longer counted against us.
That does not mean that we have lost our free will. We will always have free will. Some people seem to think that Jesus will return and we will no longer sin. Are they saying that we will no longer sin because free will was taken away? Or are they saying that because we see God we will not sin?
Adam and Eve were walking and talking with God and yet they sinned. Will we be any different then them?
Most say because we see God face to face, we will not sin. I would add, that our new nature will be completely put on at that time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9QdJZUJz8o (Petra, Grave Robber)
1 Cor.15:50 - 58
Adam and Eve saw God. Yet they sinned.
Our righteousness even with our new nature will never be enough. We will always have free will. With free will there will always be the ability to sin. The only lasting solution is the Grace of God. Where our sin is no longer counted against us. We are just called to trust in Him
Agreed, but we have a part to play, as well - Trusting enough to obey, not perfectly, (Yet!) but with a pursuit of Him that is whole hearted. We will have no desire to sin when the new heavens and the new earth come, and some will have no desire to sin even before that, when the event described in the passage quoted above comes to fruition.
When I talk about trusting God I am not talking about just saying some words. I mean trusting God. Let me try to explain.
Back in 1979 I was not a very good person. Just to keep this simple one moment I was not a believer the next moment I was. I did not know anything about church or what I was "supposed" to do. I did not "repent" by confessing my sins.
I spent the next couple of months reading the bible, praying and seeking God. I found that I did not want to lie or cheat because I knew it was not life. For me there was amazing joy just knowing that God was real and he loved me.
My girlfriend (who is now my wife) also became a Christian.
For the first month or so I didn't talk to anybody. Except my girlfriend. Not because I didn't want to but because I was seeking God every moment I had.
It may sound boring to you but it was the best time of my life. I was walking in pure joy.
Then I went to visit a friend that did not know what had happened with me. I knocked on his door. When he opened it he took a step back and say you're different, I want what you have. So he is also a Christian.
Then someone told me about Christian churches. Talk about being clueless. I just didn't know.
I go to church and I hear that in order to be a Christian I need to pray at least 15 minutes a day, Read my bible every day, Repent of my sins. On and On.
So I thought I was doing great. I easily prayed 15 minutes a day. I was always reading my bible. I wasn't sure if I repented the way I was "supposed" to. So I told God I was a sinner and asked Him to forgive my sins.
Things changed after that. Instead of praying because I wanted to be with God I was checking my watch to make sure I was praying for at least 15 minutes. I was checking how much time I was reading my bible.
In other words what was a joy became a law that I had to follow.
To keep it simple I was completely deceived. I don't blame anybody, it was my choice to be deceived. I look back now and I realize that I wanted to be sure that I was walking with God. I no longer trusted that He was speaking to me. Maybe I was making it all up.
I started to do more things for the church. We had a youth group that was growing fast. I poured my life into it What was really happening was not good. I replaced Loving God with repenting of my sins by doing good works. It all sounded holy and right.
A few years later I was falling apart on the inside. I wanted so much to be perfect in his eyes. I just couldn't do it. I failed at being perfect over and over.
Finally I just gave up. I told God that I couldn't follow Him anymore because I was a complete failure.
That is when I heard Him say, When did I tell you to do these things? Return to your first love.
So when I say that trusting God is all we need to be saved I am saying that from my understanding of trusting God instead of what we can do to be right with Him.
So... Christ will not return, and we'll just be living in this nominal, depraved world and just be content with "grace"? I'm sorry, but I just don't follow.
We are called to Worship in Spirit and Truth. We have to question why do we think we need to See Him in order to worship Him?
I believe Jesus will return but not in flesh (Just to be clear He can do whatever He wants).
We were created to live in the Garden. My belief is that in some way we are returning to a garden. Just like the Garden of Eden.
I don't know how that will happen I just know that the 2,000 year gap is a money maker for the people that push it. It is also used to justify political things going on in the Middle East.