1. First, the bad news - we’re all sinners in the eyes of God.
Romans 3:23: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.
2. More bad news - the result of sin is death.
Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death.
There are two parts to death. The first death is a physical death here on earth. The second death is the lake of fire (hell).
Revelation 21:8: But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
That’s a pretty bad list, right? But, notice at the end of the list it said “all liars.” The Bible says, “let God be true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4). The point here is that we’re all sinners and we’re all condemned to hell - even if the only thing you have ever done wrong is tell a lie.
3. Now the Good news – God has a gift He wants to give you (eternal life).
Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
God has a gift He wants to give you and that gift is eternal life and it is through Jesus Christ. You don’t have to work for the gift and you don’t have to pay for the gift.
Ephesians 2:8-9: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
4. More Good News – Jesus paid the price for our sins.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Just because the gift is free doesn’t mean that someone didn’t pay for it. Since God wants to give you a gift, He’s the giver and you’re the receiver, so He paid for the gift. Jesus paid for the gift by His death, burial and resurrection. Do you believe that Jesus died, was buried and was resurrected on the third day to pay for our sins?
John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
God says he wants to give you eternal life, that is life that will never end. This means that when you die the initial physical death, you will not die the second death of being cast into the lake of fire but instead you will go and live with God forever in heaven.
Titus 1:2: In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
Our hope for eternal life is that God cannot lie. So if God promises you life that will never end, then He will give you life that never ends. Salvation had nothing to do with you, remember it’s “not of yourselves” (Ephesians 2:8). When God forgives you of your sins; He forgives you of all your sins—past, present, future. That is how he can guarantee us eternal life.
5. All you have to do is accept God’s gift for you by faith.
Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
If someone were to buy a gift, wrap it and write your name on it, it would not become yours until you accepted it. The gift from God is exactly the same. It’s already been paid for by Jesus Christ and God offers it to everyone but you need to accept it. You accept the gift of eternal life by confessing with your mouth while believing in your heart.
Do you want to accept Jesus Christ and be saved from your sins right now? Then just say this simple prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I’m a sinner and that I deserve to go to hell. I believe that you died on the cross, were buried and rose again to pay for my sins. I ask you to save me, forgive me of my sins and take me to heaven when I die. Thank you for giving me eternal life. Amen.
Congratulations, you are saved!
If you prayed that prayer and got saved, send me a message - it would make an old Canadian guy very happy to hear that you got saved. God bless.
On this board I believe there are many who are very complex and capable of critical thought.
Repentance is required.
Experience and strength is gained by seeing we are not perfect. The best example in today’s future is to see a Church flying a lgbtq flag is a symbol they are not of Jesus.
Sure the Church can claim John 3:16 but repentance is in the heart and it shows that we know we are not perfect.
To claim you are going to heaven and also claim perpetually going after lust openly and boldly is a sign.
The flesh is weak but the lgbtq flag has attempted to steal the symbol from God while mocking Jesus.
The Christian is to bow at their feet but the Christian who is bowing at their feet is worshipping Satan, not Jesus. Openly.
Repentance is something I have been looking into and praying on recently. Can you elaborate on what it is and how to obtain it?
Not “obtain”, “practice”.
It is an ongoing thing. Find where you are in error/“missing the mark”/“sinning”, and work on “circumcising” that action from your heart and “repenting”/“turning away from” that sin and walking in obedience.
Three things are required to do this:
Sin follows physics. Nature abhors a vacuum. Don’t just try to pull sin out, the vacuum that is created will suck it back in. Instead, aim to replace it with acts of faith.
The “Roman Road” is likely good as a starting point, but I believe the above is the path of repentance.
Further, a lot of Christianity will claim that “sin” and “faithfulness” (negative and positive laws, respectfully) are only found in the New Testament, but the New Testament appears to be very strongly built upon the Old Testament.
While no ill intention is here, there is ill intention and misguided information everywhere, so I do recommend studying and discerning for yourself in case of error on the part of any counselor. Scriptural reference guides (such as Strong’s) and word studies can be very helpful.
People will tell you that “oh so you’re an expert in translation now! I suppose these guys over here were just dumb compared to your 15 minute study where you’re an expert now!” but always remember that Andrew Cuomo told us the same thing about Hillary’s emails. Don’t allow anyone but God, through the Holy Spirit, to be your authority, and do not forget that “faith” isn’t about studying, but about action. Like a plant, a certain amount of pulling nutrients from the soil and dormancy are necessary to bear fruit, but the fruit must be borne.
Awesome contributions. Thank you so much. 🙏
What if God through the Holy Spirit is exercising His authority through the priesthood of the Church?
How would you know?
I think it's quite clear that if the Holy Spirit was authoritatively guiding Christians in a personal manner, that there wouldn't be such a variety of beliefs between "denominations".
I agree that the New Testament is clearly built on the Old Testament. And in the OT, we are told that the man is the leader (has final say) of his household/family. Surely then it's plausible to believe that the Church is the leader (has final say) on matters of faith and doctrine.
After all, there is nothing new under the sun. The Bible prefigures everything.
I had a long post for this, but in short, Revelation 1:6 my fren.
Was it written for you, and I, and other believers, or for specific people?
I believe that message was written to us, and not to just a select group of people who have passed through a specific training and promotion process into priesthood.
The Kingdom of God is within.
To put it another way, I agree that your proposition is correct, and it seems we are not aligned on our definitions of “priesthood” and “church”.
A good allegory is this: you're driving somewhere and think you're going the right way. Then you see signs, and people tell you you're going the wrong way but stubbornly keep going the way you were going. It's my car, and I know where I'm going. Repentance is you finally realize you're going the wrong way, so you make a U-turn. You also realize the car was never yours, you were just borrowing it.
Repentance is a change of the direction of your will, to turn towards God. It's also a surrender of the ownership of your life, acknowledging that you belong to God.
May I add that understanding God's love (or beginning to grasp it, as we cannot fully understand in this world) should be an integral part of one's faith journey. It will help guide you.
Grace to you, my friend. If you have any other questions, just ask.
Thank you, I also wanted you to add this for anyone else who would be reading. It seems like repentance is not just a rejection of sin, but it requires accepting and surrendering to Christ first, then sin becomes disgusting
For me repentance is feeling of remorse for all the things I've done, people I've hurt, bad things I thought of throughout my life. And to repent is to change, changing the way I think, forgiving people, letting go of resentful feelings or bitterness. I think we all have a bit of that towards parents, people in our childhood, people who've hurt us.
And after cleaning out your mental closet you can start new with a fresh mind and fresh attitude, such as being careful not to attack and hurt others with words, pointing fingers, focusing on people's shortcomings, self pity, depression, feeling hopeless or in despair.. those old feelings need to be turned around to feeling hopeful and joy and seeing life through Jesus' eyes, even in the midst of storm because that is what faith is. Try and become more self aware, think before reacting or speaking based on ego and emotions, and so on. Just some examples based on my own experience. Basically clean the temple of God, which is your mind and body.
Another verse from Jesus -Matthew 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” NIV What goes into someone's mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them. '
Admitting you're a sinner, confessing your sins, and changing your behavior is repentance.
John 8:10-11
10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Remorse/regret.
It is an individual thing. To turn away from something.
Fasting can lead to understanding.
One thing I have observed is very intelligent people have a harder time with the concept. Their intelligence can get in the way of concepts that surround repentance. Like meek.
If one works for a store and the store says to put certain items facing a certain way and the worker on accident puts them the wrong way, the manager will rebuke (advise) the worker of their mistake on such item. This will give the worker the ability to change (repent) and make a decision to face the item as the store wants it faced.
In that scenario the worker is viewed as ignorant, because all new workers have the same beginnings in such a store. In this store it is up to the workers to volunteer to grow and become more knowledgeable and useful. The manager will not require this worker to want at this stage.
Fast forward a bit and this worker has a foundation in this store and now- has a desire to serve at a higher level. The manager sees this and for a test the worker is put back at the mistake that was made.
If the worker puts the item the wrong way it requires more discernment to judge this worker. This worker -wants- promotion to see more. So if the worker again puts the item facing the wrong direction and does so with knowledge of doing so, but shows the manager a weeping face and acts as-if he made a mistake. My question can this worker repent? His heart opposes the work he wants to be promoted in.
If the same worker puts the item the correct direction with no thought about it, we might see his heart automatically goes to the truth of the item.
When we see lgbtq flying their flag, to me this is the delimitation. They are claiming the very basic of Christianity is incorrect and should face the wrong direction.
Each path will create the person to make decisions. One decision is to say let others be what they want, which most agree on. This is completely different. This is a very bold statement to those who are meek. It is a very bold statement to repentance.
A wise Christian will never follow a beguiled Church. What is even more remarkable is the wise Christian will stop going to that church after rebuking the Church by both words and funding. The Church will go out of business in a Capitalist society.
To answer that question for me is very tough. I am a human who has always been in the same exact state as any other human with free will.
Maybe if you told me 2+2=6 and I advised (rebuked) you it equals 4. The decision you make will show you repented or hardened- your heart.
Many levels to where many are. Many here are at higher levels of Spiritual concepts and also at higher levels in society. If a Commander tells his soldiers to fight and they fall. Will the Commander doubt his action of movement? This is where many become broken.
I pray to be weak. Every Commander needs humility. -I am non commander by the way- just an American with free thought. ;)
Repentance is required as an inseparable evidence of faith in Christ. In Romans when Paul is presenting the legal argument for justification by faith, he excludes any form of "doing good" as being a part of justifying faith itself. That would include a genuine resolve to turn from sin. Think of all the examples in the Gospels of characters who have favorable encounters with Jesus, it is their faith that brings about salvation (A petition for mercy in some way, acknowleding their sinful and helpless condition). Repentance is the happy consequence of Jesus' saving act of healing/forgiving sins.
John 8:11-12-KJV -go, and sin no more.
Jesus is the light to shine on things. It gives us a choice and also removes being the victim of darkness. Only Jesus is perfect and perfection is unattainable.
By flying the lgbtq flag on a Christian Church shows they have turned darkness into their light. Some might say flying a lgbtq flag alone is satanism.
Example?
I like watching closer to people things. Like this link. To me this is more real news than any MSM.
Skip to the 21 minute mark. They show us their light is darkness and they are in the open. Should we bow to them?
https://youtu.be/mWNfQRj7sd4?si=sLCJVninT_nd-FnJ
Perhaps not initially, and perhaps by many not intentionally, but nowadays it seems like the alphabet mafia flag is connected to Satanism, and the Satanists and the alphabet mafia always seem poised to protect themselves and each other from the perversely -- and inversely -- named "evil Christians" who are the moral compass of this country.
Regarding the command "sin no more" this happens twice in John and is specific to the two people Jesus was interacting with. In both cases, Jesus knew something of their particular circumstances where some manner of habitual behavior or living had resulted in their extremely dire situation at the time he healed or forgave them. So it is not a universal template on how anyone comes to faith in Christ and repents. The rest of the New Testament is consistent that the life of the believer involves a process of struggling with sin. Paul for instance never tells the churches he writes to for everyone to simply "sin no more". He says now that they have died to sin and been made alive with Christ, they must persevere in the process of putting to death the sinful deeds of the flesh, for this is consistent evidence of our new identity in Christ as a new creation, though we still inhabit corrupted bodies in a corrupted world. But for particular sins that are tearing apart the Church, or scandalizing the Gospel message, Paul gives the pastoral command to deal with it decisively (1 Corinthians examples: the petty divisions, the incestuous relationship a man had with his stepmother, etc. Galatians example: the false teaching to require circumcision and law keeping to be saved. Hebrews example: the temptation to return to Judaism for assurance of salvation, etc)
Of course making an unforced decision is involved in coming to faith in Christ. But unfortunately American evangelicalism has in some ways made mankind's natural ability to "choose" into a work an in some cases even an idol. I used to be in that world. It's a democratic libertarian distortion of Christianity. The NT teaches we in our natural state don't even have the ability to choose correctly without the regenerative and sovereign work of the Spirit upon the heart. Remember in John Jesus also told his disciples, "You did not choose me, but I chose you". Wait, what? They chose to follow him didn't they? Yes, because once they are no longer dead in sin and darkness but are His sheep (sovereign work of the Spirit), they hear His voice and follow.
Yeah I think we are all individuals in both Christianity and the USA constitution.
Being an individual in each should be taught we also have consequences for our decisions. Some decisions I see are lack of courage to stand up against perceived higher authorities in both, while those who claim authority demand Christian’s be silent.
The micromanagement of do’s and do nots becomes a divider. Love is the most important and will cover a multitude of disagreements on lesser issues. The lgbtq is not of Jesus. It is openly satanic with a sword and children as their perceived shield. OP
The only way to move forward in the culture we are heading to in the USA is to allow Christians to be persecuted to the death and claim they are trump supporters to justify the means to the end or to repent and stand with Jesus and the USA constitution.
The line has been there for a long time, however this year we are already seeing people need to repent or harden their hearts.
Sometimes to heal it is required to break. Many fronts in this culture war, but any front claiming to be of Jesus and flying a lgbtq flag is not of Jesus. Those flags should be burned.
I am not angry, I am only observing the inevitable. Now those who want to repent are welcomed and those have repented may still be doing wrong, but with the Spirit of God we have the same foundation and the same forgiveness.
Not dooming here. It is exciting. Many people God has chosen to lead us out of this, but are they willing to stand up?