It has been written
A Collection of Apologetics
The Basis of Salvation
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8,9
In this section:
The Philosophy of Salvation
The Philosophy of Salvation
"If you have ever called for justice,
then you are required to believe in "morals."
After someone commits a heinous crime you want to see them get justice, and to be held accountable for what they did in a court of law. That is because what they did is very "wrong." Although many do disagree with what is considered "right", and what is considered wrong, if you can agree that person should be punished for what they did, because it is wrong, then you must admit that there is indeed a "Right" and a "Wrong", and so now the spectrum exists. If you have ever called for justice, then you are required to believe in "morals", and so the debate begins... Where do morals start, and where do they stop?
If we are all here as a matter of chance, from an explosion of nothing, evolved from primordial soup, up against all the odds and laws of thermodynamics, and we have arrived by accident, as a short blip in a finite galaxy, then the universe arrived by chance, and so it will depart without anyone there to hold a memory. Yet, all of the sudden it is no longer about "Natural selection and the struggle for life" because according to Darwin's evolution we are all just a matter of chance from an accident, without meaningful cause, or any real purpose. So why would there ever be any motivation for morals, or even justice? What is justice? Is it only there because someone got caught disturbing your existence, beyond what society deems as acceptable? Is that all there is? Or, does what we do here, actually matter somehow, even if nobody saw you do it?
If you can come to a place where you realize that there is indeed a right, and a wrong, even if nobody saw you do it, then comes the inevitable question, "Who decides what is actually deemed right, or wrong?" Who is to say that Todd's morals are better than Bob's? What about "this" majority, over "that" minority, or vice versa? Haven't plenty of majorities been wrong before? To say that morals are subjective to mankind, is honestly a very poor philosophy, and that is because we are all fallible, susceptible to corruption, limited in memory and knowledge, and also to all the various restrictions of the time we live in. Our moral judgements left to a mere person, or a group, will always be subjective, opinionated, and undependable. We did not put ourselves here, and so we are not the one's who get to decide what the house rules are. They just are, whether it's physics, chemistry, math, or morals. It does make sense to reason, that our moral law, just like the laws of physics, need to come from something higher than the creation, such as the creator, and they all needed to be in place and firmly established before anything could exist.
As the book of Romans very thoroughly points out, our sins were not made known to us, until the laws were given. If they hadn't been given, we would've never known that we were breaking any laws. It is the very laws that condemn us, the moment we received them. However, "To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law." Romans 5:13. So where did these laws come from? There is a book that records ten of them, given a very long time ago, and it says that they are given to us by God himself. So these morals would in fact, be higher than just mere men deciding what is right or wrong, but now there are two more questions. How do we even know there is a God?, and how do we know that the Bible, and those ten commandments are actually from God, and not just some man, or a group of men? Every section of this website goes over many reasons of every kind to answer those two questions. As for this section, it will be spent simplifying, what men have found a way to complicate. How do we obtain eternal life according to the Bible?
The main purpose for the entire Bible is to bring us to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. It is a gift, that we can do nothing by action to receive, just as Ephesians Two: Eight-Nine states. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. The Bible gives us very clear, and easy to understand instructions on how to attain salvation. The most well known verses are these:
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Romans 10:9-10
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
Once you believe, you are saved and sealed, you cannot lose your salvation, ever. That is made clear by:
Ephesians 1:13-14
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but THE FREE GIFT of God is ETERNAL LIFE in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 11:29
For THE GIFTS and the calling of God ARE IRREVOCABLE.
Either you believe what these verses say, or you don't.
It is that simple.
Can a Christian lose salvation? | GotQuestions.org
First, the term Christian must be defined. A “Christian” is not a person who has said a prayer or walked down an aisle or been raised in a Christian family. While each of these things can be a part of the Christian experience, they are not what makes a Christian. A Christian is a person who has fully trusted in Jesus Christ as the only Savior and therefore possesses the Holy Spirit (John 3:16; Acts 16:31; Ephesians 2:8–9).
So, with this definition in mind, can a Christian lose salvation? It’s a crucially important question. Perhaps the best way to answer it is to examine what the Bible says occurs at salvation and to study what losing salvation would entail:
A Christian is a new creation. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). A Christian is not simply an “improved” version of a person; a Christian is an entirely new creature. He is “in Christ.” For a Christian to lose salvation, the new creation would have to be destroyed.
A Christian is redeemed. “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:18–19). The word redeemed refers to a purchase being made, a price being paid. We were purchased at the cost of Christ’s death. For a Christian to lose salvation, God Himself would have to revoke His purchase of the individual for whom He paid with the precious blood of Christ.
A Christian is justified. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). To justify is to declare righteous. All those who receive Jesus as Savior are “declared righteous” by God. For a Christian to lose salvation, God would have to go back on His Word and “un-declare” what He had previously declared. Those absolved of guilt would have to be tried again and found guilty. God would have to reverse the sentence handed down from the divine bench.
A Christian is promised eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Eternal life is the promise of spending forever in heaven with God. God promises, “Believe and you will have eternal life.” For a Christian to lose salvation, eternal life would have to be redefined. The Christian is promised to live forever. Does eternal not mean “eternal”?
A Christian is marked by God and sealed by the Spirit. “You also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13–14). At the moment of faith, the new Christian is marked and sealed with the Spirit, who was promised to act as a deposit to guarantee the heavenly inheritance. The end result is that God’s glory is praised. For a Christian to lose salvation, God would have to erase the mark, withdraw the Spirit, cancel the deposit, break His promise, revoke the guarantee, keep the inheritance, forego the praise, and lessen His glory.
A Christian is guaranteed glorification. “Those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Romans 8:30). According to Romans 5:1, justification is ours at the moment of faith. According to Romans 8:30, glorification comes with justification. All those whom God justifies are promised to be glorified. This promise will be fulfilled when Christians receive their perfect resurrection bodies in heaven. If a Christian can lose salvation, then Romans 8:30 is in error, because God could not guarantee glorification for all those whom He predestines, calls, and justifies.
A Christian cannot lose salvation. Most, if not all, of what the Bible says happens to us when we receive Christ would be invalidated if salvation could be lost. Salvation is the gift of God, and God’s gifts are “irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). A Christian cannot be un-newly created. The redeemed cannot be unpurchased. Eternal life cannot be temporary. God cannot renege on His Word. Scripture says that God cannot lie (Titus 1:2).
Two common objections to the belief that a Christian cannot lose salvation concern these experiential issues: 1) What about Christians who live in a sinful, unrepentant lifestyle? 2) What about Christians who reject the faith and deny Christ? The problem with these objections is the assumption that everyone who calls himself a “Christian” has actually been born again. The Bible declares that a true Christian will not live a state of continual, unrepentant sin (1 John 3:6). The Bible also says that anyone who departs the faith is demonstrating that he was never truly a Christian (1 John 2:19). He may have been religious, he may have put on a good show, but he was never born again by the power of God. “By their fruit you will recognize them” (Matthew 7:16). The redeemed of God belong “to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God” (Romans 7:4).
Nothing can separate a child of God from the Father’s love (Romans 8:38–39). Nothing can remove a Christian from God’s hand (John 10:28–29). God guarantees eternal life and maintains the salvation He has given us. The Good Shepherd searches for the lost sheep, and, “when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home” (Luke 15:5–6). The lamb is found, and the Shepherd gladly bears the burden; our Lord takes full responsibility for bringing the lost one safely home.
Jude 24–25 further emphasizes the goodness and faithfulness of our Savior: “To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”
End of Article by gotquestions.org
It is important to note that once the tribulation period begins you also cannot have the mark of the beast, as you are now in a changed dispensation that being the 7 year tribulation. The reason that is, is because something applies to those during that time period, which cannot apply to those prior to the rapture of the church. it appears that you will be cut off from salvation according to Revelation 14:10,11, if you take the mark. During this current age of grace prior to the rapture, there are still many out there who make it more complicated than it is, and that is because they are not rightly dividing time by events. In this section I will share various Bible verses to highlight the Biblical timeline, and try to pay forward the most important lesson I have ever learned, when it comes to reading and understanding the Bible. The lesson of “Rightly Dividing” written in II Timothy 2:15 “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
What kind of Baptism are we talking about?
This is a massive lesson, and there are several verses that could have been addressed, but this will cover enough to hit the main points regarding salvation. This key of rightly dividing also unlocks the timing of the rapture of “The church” as shown in the prophecy section. It would help so many people if they knew to apply this tactic. It will give them confidence, in their salvation, and give them the ability to understand why we know the rapture of the church, is before the final week of “Jacob’s trouble”. Sadly a lot of people, me included in my younger years, were very confused with the mixed messages we hear in all the various churches we’ve been to.
For example, it is said the entire Bible applies to us as followers of Christ, but I knew that could not be true. Yes “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." II Timothy 3:16,17
It is certainly our instruction manual, but even though I believed the Bible is God’s word, there were so many things, I knew we weren’t supposed to be doing, such as animal sacrifices for our sins, or not wearing clothing made of more than two fiber types, or stoning people to death! I had many questions as to when, and why did this stop? I wondered, how were people saved before Jesus died, or before he was even born? What I didn't understand then, is that the Bible is a book that covers six thousand years of history, and things do change over time, in accordance with significant events.
Rightly dividing is the practice of applying the word as it pertains to the age, or the group of people being spoken to, or about. There was an age of "The Law", circumcision, and sacrifices. However, though many things like the ten commandments still apply, that age and the old covenant has been made into a better one, just as the Tanakh, or old covenant states will happen. There is a man who has come at a very specific time, from a very specific place, in an extremely specific way, to make a better covenant.
The salvation chart just below, and also in the "History of The Writings" section points out, that we have gone from God's covenant with the elders, to the circumcision covenant and repentance with Abraham, Levitical law, and then to a very brief stint of water baptism and repentance, starting with John the Baptist. He used water as a visual representation to "prepare the way" for baptism with the Holy Spirit. Currently we are in what the Bible refers to as the age of grace, and we are baptized by the Holy Spirit, the moment we believe in the gospel of Jesus, and then we are called to repentance for the gift that was given to us. All of these transitions have been made very clear, primarily in the books of Acts, Hebrews, Romans, and restated almost every book in the New Testament/New Covenant. As we read these books, we can see that Paul clearly had a tough time convincing the Jews who did accept Christ, to stop circumcising themselves for the sake of salvation. In frustration, he makes one of the funniest jokes in the bible and says, I wish they'd just circumcise the whole thing off, so that the argument would be done, and he could make his point! (Galatians 5:12) Today people still have a hard time letting go of needing certain actions to obtain salvation. A lot will be clarified just by asking this question, "What are the differences between the Old Covenant, and the New Covenant?" Searching the Bible with that question in mind will reveal a lot about it.
Circumcision was an outward expression of an inward change, just like water baptism. Stephen proclaimed this in Acts 7:51, referring to Deuteronomy 10:16, when he gave his speech to the Sanhedrin, just before he got stoned by them. “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!" This same sentence could be said for those who feel the outward expression of water baptism, representing the inner baptism of the Holy Spirit, is what is needed for the mechanics of salvation. Is it not possible for one to go through the action of a water baptism, and not actually believe any of it? Of course they can. Is it possible for someone to be baptized by the Holy Spirit, but not baptized by some other sinner in water? Yes, of course they can, and the Bible has a lot of examples, and a lot of things to say about that.
Salvation is a free gift for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord, but expressing your faith and love through your actions is what that is meant to cause in you. For anyone who is not secure about their salvation, feels they can lose it, or thinks that they haven't done enough to obtain it, then this section should settle your heart and mind for good, using nothing but exactly what the Bible says about it. I'll start it off by sharing my own experience witnessing my first water baptism at a very young age in elementary school.
My parents let me know my whole life, we are saved by faith alone, but my dad was raised Catholic and there was still some residual Catholic doctrine in there. Water baptism seemed to be something he was dealing with at the time of this personal event. A day came when I was about thirteen, and the church was holding baptisms at my good friend’s house. My dad told me, “You should be baptized” and I said, "I should be? For what?, why? What does it do?" He said, "we are told to be baptized.”
I said, "You have always told me that we are saved by faith alone. So what purpose does this serve?" He was right when he told me it is an outward expression of our faith, but when I heard this, I was perplexed. Immediately I asked, “So it’s for the other people?” What weight does their opinion hold for my salvation?” I knew it didn’t, but I was making a point. I was defining the lines.
He said it’s not for their opinion, It’s an expression from you, for God, and an example for onlookers. I said, “But God knows my heart already, why does he need me to go underwater to know I believe in him? I know the pastor has no ability to forgive my sins, so why can’t I be baptized on my own every time I go underwater?
I can still remember the look on my parent’s faces. My mom quietly left, and let my dad deal with me this time. He was clearly frustrated at the situation, but at the same time, proud I was thinking. He said, “You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, and yes you are absolutely still saved if you don’t.”
We were both frustrated, and stopped talking about it, so I wandered off and found my mom. I said, “Am I doing something wrong thinking this way?” She assured me I wasn’t, and I didn’t have to get baptized if I didn’t want to, and that is perfectly ok not to. She assured me I am still young and if I don’t understand yet, that’s just fine.
That day rattled around my head for some time. I was under the impression I was falling short somehow. It wasn’t until much later, that I realized baptism is not about something that happens if a person gets dunked underwater by another person. It is an expressed symbol of where our hearts are at, and our relationship with Jesus. Just like all relationships, we don’t do things because we are told to, or should, we do them to express the love, because we want to express the love. The flowers that you gave are not the love, you gave them because you love them, so we can agree that the symbolism is not the love itself, it is just an expression of the love that exists already, regardless of the action.
I eventually did get water baptized, and it was my father who baptized me. At that point, it was because if there was a way I could express my love for Jesus, I wanted to do it. It was out of remembrance, much like communion is. Communion doesn’t save us either, but we do it in remembrance of him. This is a good thing to do, and I want to make my father proud, both of them. Because I love them… Because “They loved me first.” That is another simple, but a very profound verse, that I have heard a million times, and it took three decades to sink in. Because He loved us first…
Communion is a wonderful thing, in the same way so is water baptism. However, throughout time God has changed how he deals with mankind. Rightly dividing the Bible by time, groups, and events, events like Jesus’s death, is a very important key to understanding the scriptures and how they apply to us.
Have you considered how people were saved before John the baptist and Jesus’s death? Even while Jesus was still alive, people were made aware of their salvation in a different way, because he hadn’t died for our sins yet. The Old covenant was still in place. The Old Testament is the Old Covenant. Once he died for our sins, he established the New Covenant.
Just as Hebrews 7:21-25 Says:
“but there was an oath regarding Jesus. For God said to him, “The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow:
‘You are a priest forever.’” Because of this oath, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God.
There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office. But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever. Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.”
So there was indeed an Old Covenant, And Jesus IS the New Covenant. The assurance of salvation before his death, and even his birth, would clearly be different than after his death. Both required faith, but each from a different perspective. His death was a big deal, and it certainly meant something. To say the least, it changed everything. His life and blood covers all of our sins, for all of us, before his death, and after. “It is finished.”
Only just prior to Jesus’s death, people were baptized by water and repentance. John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way for how we will be baptized by the Holy Spirit. This was a transitional period of time.
John 1: 23 : “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the LORD,” (*see Isaiah 40:3)
People weren’t even baptized by water before John the baptist. Before him, as a man, you had to be circumcised under the Abrahamic Covenant and follow levitical laws as a symbol of your faith. Even still, “Abraham believed, and it was credited to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6) That was also before he was circumcised.
We are now baptized by the Holy Spirit. There are those who say we cannot be saved unless we are water baptized. However, the man next to Jesus, while he was being crucified, is the first example of not being water baptized and being saved. We can agree, I’m sure, that he did not have time to be baptized, while he was nailed to a cross. Recorded in Luke 23: 42,43
“And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”
There are chapters and verses all throughout the books of Acts, Romans, and Hebrews, Ephesians, and Galatians about the transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. I have put together a few I’d like to highlight, to give you more conviction and peace with your salvation.
Water Baptism and Repentance:
Jesus’ blood changes “Baptism” from water, to the Holy Spirit.
Acts 11:16- 18
Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, BUT YOU will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?” When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
As we just read, yes repentance leads to life, just as sin leads to death as stated in James 1:15 "Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." Repentance doesn’t give us eternal life, it leads to life here on Earth because we stop sinning unrepentantly. As soon as Jesus died for our sins, the new better covenant was established, just as many verses in the Old Testament said was going to happen. We are no longer baptized by water and repentance, but by the Holy Spirit the moment we believe in Jesus, “A better covenant.” Many verses in the New Testament say that with very careful and exact words.
Acts 19:1- 5
“While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied.” “Paul said, “John’s baptism WAS a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
This makes the clear distinction between how it used to be, and what it is now. It WAS a baptism of water and repentance. When they approached Paul, they had been water baptized, but they weren’t “saved,” and still had not been baptized by the Holy spirit, which is now the New Covenant of the gospel, and we are now baptized by the the holy spirit, which was given at Pentecost. To be clear, the Holy Spirit has always been around even during creation week. However, I believe Jeremiah 31:33 was engaged and fulfilled that day on pentecost, as it was recorded in Acts 2.
Jeremiah 31:33
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Before Pentecost, the Holy spirit had not yet been given in this way yet, because Jesus had not died yet, but now he has and the New covenant is now in full effect. To say otherwise, is to say that nothing happened regarding the Holy Spirit, that day. You would be saying there was no difference between the Old Covenant and the New. According to the Bible However, the old way has expired now that a savior has been given, just as all the prophets said was going to happen, and those who looked forward by faith believed in the one who was to come.
Jesus.
Is.
“The Way.”
So... If repentance doesn’t save you, what is the meaning of this verse?
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 7:21. They see that, and assume "His will" means you have to do good things to get into heaven. Does this verse actually say that? Not at all, read it again.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
You should not assume what that means, but ask, what is “The will of his Father in heaven”?
Praise God, We are given that answer point blank in,
John 6: 39,40.
“And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall loose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
So, there you have it. The “Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life.” If you read through the New testament quickly, all of this will stand out very much to you.
I don’t write any of this to discourage repentance. The Bible definitely does not discourage repentance either. Its message is clear, "Repent and be baptized!" (Which is now done by the Holy Spirit) is said over, and over again. Aside from becoming a believer in Christ, the next best thing you can do, is to work on repenting from all of your various sins. In fact, one of the five crowns we are promised, is the "incorruptible crown" from 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. This is for gaining mastery over the old man. The old man being the way you were before you cared much about what God wants for you, back when you cared more about what you want. After that, dying to yourself to become a servant for Christ and follow his will, over your own, are exactly what his love is meant to cause in you. These are the best things a person can do with their lives, during our short visit here on Earth.
James 2: 21- 24
Makes the valid point: "Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.”
What this is saying, is that someone who believes something to be true, will also act as though it were true. Someone who takes vitamins, does so because they believe they are good for them. Surely they wouldn't voluntarily do that, if they didn't believe this to be true. However, we all still wrestle with sin, and will do so until we die.
"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." 1 John 1:8
If we sin again, it doesn't mean we didn't repent hard enough, and we certainly did not lose our salvation as some would have you believe. We can, however, lose fellowship with him. If you can't tell that difference, then you may not have been in fellowship with him, in a very long time. All of us have sin in us, but God knows where each of us are at, as well. To clarify, one day you may find that you're strong, full of faith and joy, then at some point you find yourself quenching the spirit and sinning somehow. The next day you may notice that your strength is gone, you have all kinds of anxiety, fears, and doubts. You may wonder if that is just your guilt, and it's true guilt is convicting, but there is something more than just a psychological guilt rebound happening, and it will happen like clockwork every time. It's my belief that this is what happens when you lose fellowship. Your sin has caused space between you and "The comforter." When you know what it's like to live, and rest in such great peace, you may not be aware when it's there, but you do know when it's gone, it's more than just guilt.
Once you have become accustomed to living in that kind of peace, and your faith is already high enough to genuinely want to obey. When you don't, losing this fellowship is the next level that makes us not want to sin. I hadn't known this peace for most of my life, because it was spent chasing all kinds of lusts, but now that I have finally reached a place where I am able to notice the lack of fellowship, keeping that fellowship has become a top priority. Our sins also grant the evil powers, legal access to approach us 1 Timothy 1:20. God allows punishments and disciplines the ones he loves. He is not unaware that hardships are very effective at bringing one's attention back to him.
If all that sounds like spiritual riffraff, well it did to me too at one point. You don't really have to worry about attaining this, because this is the path Christ puts you on when you came to believe. It all begins when you seek him with all of your heart, and your mind, when you build your faith based on all the evidence first, and then the first stages of obedience will come naturally as you come to believe that Jesus and his love are actually real. The beginning of this site is a great place to start with that.
Getting back to it, I was saved a long time ago, but I was still full of anger and a lot of sinful desires that I put first, because selfishly, I wanted them the most, but Jesus doesn’t save us for being “complete.” He saves us as we are, the moment we believe, and begins the process to make us more complete. Once we believe, we pray he delivers us from our sins, and guides our lives, as we try to conquer our thoughts, actions, and words.
Repentance is a change in your behavior, because of what you now know to be true, and that is something that becomes more aware to you, as you understand more and more. Therefore we can certainly say, there are many levels to our repentance. Many have come to salvation through faith in Jesus, but still have both feet in the world, and they have a hard time letting go of their selfish desires. However, I assure you, the moment you receive the Holy Spirit and come to faith, though the holy spirit is a gentle whisper, he will convict your conscience, for whatever sins you commit.
The more we understand who Jesus is, the more we honestly want to change our behavior, and should. The more you believe what our situation is, the more you realize what you are doing, and why we are here in the first place. This is why we should also be focusing on what is good, pure, and true as Philippians 4:8 says.
Praise God! We are not saved by our behavior. We are saved by our belief in him, and given the “Gift” of salvation for that alone. That is made very clear in many places, in the New Testament/ New Covenant.
Ephesians 2:8,9
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
In other words, Don’t even dare look at another and say, “I’ve repented so much more than them, consider all that I do! I deny myself “this” and “that”, and always do “these things” everyday! and look at them… They say they believe, but look! They fall short here, and here, and also here. Surely God will save me long before He saves them, if they even are saved.”
Only God knows what is in each of our hearts. We do not. Let’s say you came to truly believe, and you repented as much as possible, but then sin again 30 seconds later just because the most ideal old sin, perhaps a seductive person walked passed you, and it was the most appealing thing you have ever seen. You found yourself looking at them with lust. It happened.
Well didn’t you just repent!? Was your repentance enough to count? If only you had made it a full day? Does that count? Or a full week? Surely a full sinless week counts? Do you see where this logic goes... There are definitely different levels of repentance, and that is a long process. Especially for someone freshly coming out of a very worldly state of being, filled with all sorts of bad habits of every kind.
Even back in levitical days, there was a time when people were actually running out of animal sacrifices for their sins, long before John the Baptist. There are verses stating how God is sick of the endless sacrifices. Praise God He has put an end to that way, and made a better covenant. Nothing would be alive today with the amount of sin in this world, if he hadn’t!
Bible verses with the explicit instructions for eternal life.
Romans 10: 9,10
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, YOU WILL BE SAVED. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
There is probably someone out there worried, because they have an artificial heart. It is for that kind of thinking, that I have taken the time to write this. That is the same level of thinking it takes to think you needed circumcision for salvation, or the water to be saved! "You stiff necked people!" Do you think that your salvation is dependent on mere water being present, to satisfy his demand? Or maybe it's based on something a bit more meaningful, like your faith.
In John 3: 14- 18, he refers back to Numbers 21:9, where Moses lifts up a bronze snake that he made, and all who looked upon it will live. Another foreshadowing of what was to come. The snake represents our sins, which have been lifted up on the cross, our sins which Jesus took upon himself and "Bore our iniquities."
John States:
“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHALL NOT PERISH BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
We are given complete instructions on how to obtain eternal life in both of those verses, and neither of them say anything about needing to repent or water baptism. They didn’t even mention it! Did the apostles forget to add it? Or worse, do you think the Holy Spirit didn’t inspire them that day, on the most important verses we have concerning how to be saved!?
You can conclude, that you have to hold your life full of imperfect actions, and your repentance, above the sacrifice of Jesus’s perfect, sinless life, and also hold water above his blood, in order to believe that we need to be baptized by water, or require some certain level of repentance to be saved. Isn't it Jesus who stands in your place after all? He himself was baptized by water, and you are hopefully aware of the conversation that took place between himself and John, when that happened. So then, he did come by water and blood, by water baptism and also when "the rock" was struck, water and blood poured from his side. The man Christ Jesus, who stands in your place to intercede for you did not come by blood alone, but by water and blood.
As recorded in John three: five “Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.”
The Good news (gospel) is that, that was him! He is the one who came by water, the spirit, and blood for you!
First John Five: Four - Thirteen
“for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? ONLY THE ONE WHO BELIEVES that Jesus is the Son of God. This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
If you hold the need for water, or your level of repentance as a requirement for your salvation… You need to understand, You are making God out to be a liar, and you’re saying that what Jesus did, isn’t good enough. You're saying, you need to do a little more. It is good to want to do something about your free gift, but you were saved the moment you called on him.
Have trust in what he established with his sacrifice, and give him credit for what He achieved with his perfect life.
This "New Covenant", a better covenant…
We all continue to sin, some in ignorance, some in pride, some in denial, some are just biting that temptation in a moment of weakness, but you should certainly repent of it, and actually be trying to successfully stop in prayer. Rest assured, the more you believe, the more you want to stop. So if you are new to finding belief, Jesus is the “The Way”, don’t be afraid of feeling like you’re about to go into a jar of rules and no fun. Our actual reality is far more exciting than any temporal thing the god (small g, also known as Satan) of this world has to offer.
Start by Building your faith in Christ first, and your perspective will change, you’d be amazed how faith in christ will kill your sinful desires, and also how much proof there is, that all of it is real.
Don’t forget, you have a direct line, straight to God. He hears every one of your prayers. Every. Single. One. So always be praying about it. Confessing what you feel bad about to our ONLY mediator, Jesus.
“For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,
I Timothy 2: 5,6
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful, and just, and will forgive us our sins, and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, and his word is not in us.” I John 1: 7-10
Not repenting is a bit like taking the most incomprehensible gift, without even saying thanks. Obviously, and almost always, people don’t understand a lot when they first believe. After all, it is the beginning of their Christian walk. They just got saved. As we all know, it usually takes time to conquer our sins, and they only just found out enough to believe. There is a lot more to learn thereafter, even if we lived several lifetimes.
So what happens if a person comes to faith, which leads to repentance, they repent, and are on the right path for a while, but then eventually gets lulled back into the world, and continues to sin, even in a totally unrepentant way? These next verses give me chills, because I was very nearly in this group, as to what I did with my life. But, He has shown me mercy, and grace and opened my eyes. He saved me from this.
II Peter 2:20- 22
“If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”
For me those are the scariest words in the entire Bible, and I pray he has mercy on this era of the Laodicean church for the strange world they have been born into. Although that small paragraph from scripture has very scary implications, once you are saved, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit, so don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, because there are many verses that confirm that, and this is my favorite.
Ephesians 1: 13, 14
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a SEAL, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit ((( GUARANTEEING ))) our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
There are some people who will bring up Matthew 10:32,33 in a very terrifying way. People have used it to cause fear and doubt in your salvation, and if you don’t read the entire chapter, or study this, it may have discouraged you a lot.
It says:
“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.
I have heard people use this verse as proof to argue that you can lose salvation. I encourage you to always read the whole chapter in context, and always rightly divide, remembering to ask the “W questions.” Who is speaking? Who is being spoken to, or about, and Why? We have all seen too many times, people who use a single verse plucked out of place to argue their point.
Matthew 10 was a general statement applying to everyone who knew of Jesus, heard of him, and even saw him. This was dividing the people who believed Jesus was The Messiah, and the people who didn’t believe that. Go read the whole chapter and that makes total and obvious sense. If you still don’t agree after reading the whole event, then you’re going to have to start believing Peter the Apostle, is in Hell. He denied Christ three times, but I am certain he is not in Hell. He was an Apostle, and he definitely believed Jesus is the Messiah.
All you need for salvation is to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, come as a man to die for our sins, and that he conquered death in our place, so that all who believe in him can have eternal life. Yes there is a spectrum of faith, but all you need to be saved, is only the size of “a mustard seed.”
As I said before, If you don’t agree with this, then you have more faith in water, than in Jesus’s blood, and you also believe your repentance will stand better come judgement day, than the entire perfect life of Jesus, who’s entire reason for coming down as a man, was to live and die, to bare all of your sins, and the sins of the whole world on himself, to stand in your place come judgement day.
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Roman’s 3:23- 26
He is the everlasting sacrifice and priesthood, who lives and has conquered death, to stand in anyone’s place who believes in him. Trust this. His grace is sufficient.
The key of Rightly dividing, which we have used here, to define the lines between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, is the same key to understanding the position of the rapture of the church, prior to the final week of years. That's it for the basis of salvation. If you want absolute conviction about a Pre-Tribulation, or pre week rapture, it's in the prophecy section. The Church does not go through the Seven year tribulation and I will biblically prove that to you there.
God bless you and I hope this helped give you clarity, and a solid faith in your salvation through Jesus Christ. If you believe in Him, then he’s got you, and no one will blot your name out of the book of life. Below are many more verses defining the lines between the ages, as it pertains to faith and salvation.
Pure Biblical Proof That Our
Salvation Is By Faith Alone, Through Grace, Not of Works, and Sealed Forever.
First, define these words, remember their definition, and keep it. They don't ever change.
Never: At no time in the past or future; not ever.
Eternity: Infinite or unending time.
Grace: Getting what you don't deserve.
Mercy: Not getting what you do deserve.
Gift: a thing given willingly to someone without payment; a present.
Repentance: A biblical definition of repentance is to make a change of mind, heart, and action, by turning away from sin and self and returning to God.
God Cannot Lie:
Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;(Titus 1:1,2)
God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. (Hebrews 6:18) for God’s GIFTS and his call are irrevocable. (Romans 11:29)
Our relationship with sin:
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23)
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin. (Romans 14:23)
If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. (James 4:17)
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. (Romans 7:15-18)
Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. (Romans 7:25)
For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. (James 2:10)
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-10)
We are saved by faith, grace, mercy, not by repentance/works:
All of Galatians chapter 3, and also Romans chapters 3 and 4, cover how your level of works, or repentance does not save you. I encourage you to read them.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, (Titus 3:4,5)
“We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:15-16)
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are
God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13,14)
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7)
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the GIFT of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
No longer baptized by water:
For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 1:5)
Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but YOU will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So if God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God’s way?” When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.” Acts 11: 16-18
He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. (Acts 18:25)
While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. (Acts 19:1-5)
We are saved by faith, grace, mercy, not by repentance/works (continued:)
All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (Acts 10:43)
“Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38-39)
He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” (Acts 15:9-11)
Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? (Romans 2:4)
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, (Romans 5:1)
But the GIFT is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the GIFT that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! (Romans 5:15)
Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:33-39)
What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. (Romans 9:30-32)
Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. (Romans 10:4)
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you WILL be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will NEVER be put to shame.” (Romans 10:9-11)
So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace. (Romans 11:5-6)
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5)
for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:9)
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1)
I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. (1 John 2:12)
Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. (1 John 2:22)
If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. (1 John 4:15)
Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. (1 John 5:5)
Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1 John 5:10-12)
because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever: (2 John 1:2)
And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. (Hebrews 3:18-19)
The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God. (Hebrews 7:18-19)
No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear. (Hebrews 8:11-13)
But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved. (Hebrews 10:39)
Can our name be blotted out of the book of life?
(No)
https://www.gotquestions.org/erased-book-life.html https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/can-i-be-blotted-from-the-book-of-life
The Gospel—Past, Present, and Future.
From here on are various verses addressing specific questions, as it pertains to our salvation.
Put together by Mr. Jack Langford.
By “Gospel” we are meaning—
• God’s basic plan of personal soul salvation—”repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21).
There are other broader uses of the word “Gospel”
• “The Gospel of the Kingdom”— is the message of anticipation of the Messianic Kingdom reign on earth— see Matt. 10:7; 13:11; and 24:14.
• “The Mystery of the Gospel” or “The Gospel of the Grace of God”—this has reference to the present dispensational aspect of the Gospel—see Eph. 6:19 and Acts 20:24.
• “The Gospel of the Circumcision”—this is the Gospel directed to the Jewish people and also includes their obedience to the Law of Moses— see Gal. 2:7-9.
• “The Gospel of the Uncircumcision”—this is the Gospel to the Gentile peoples and the Law of Moses is not to be imposed upon them—see Acts 15:24 and Gal. 2:7-9.
The Basis of Salvation for All Mankind
of all the Ages
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I Pet. 1:19-20 “Lamb foreordained before the foundation of the world.”
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Rev. 13:8 “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
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John 1:29 “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”
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Rom. 3:25 “For the sins that are past [i.e., the past ages].”
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Rom. 4:17 “God calls those things which are not—as though they were.”
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Heb. 9:15 “For sins under the first [Old] Covenant.”
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Heb. 2:9 “He tasted death for every man.”
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Isa. 53:6 “For the iniquity of us all.”
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1 John 2:2 “The propitiation for the sins of the whole world.”
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2 Cor. 5:19 “For the reconciling of the world.”
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John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son . . .”
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Rom. 11:32 “He has considered all in unbelief that He might have mercy upon all.”
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Heb. 10:12-14 “But this Man, after He had offered One Sacrifice for sin Forever, sat down at the right hand of God...For by One Offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”
THE GOSPEL OF SALVATION DOES NOT CHANGE. IT WAS PREACHED TO THOSE BEFORE CHRIST IN THE TIMES OF THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES
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I Cor. 15:1-4 “...the gospel...by which you are saved...that Christ died for our sins according to the [Hebrew] Scriptures...that He rose again the third day according to the [Hebrew] Scriptures.”
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2 Tim. 3:15 “The [Hebrew] Scriptures are able to make one wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Jesus Christ.”
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Rom. 1:1-2 “...separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy [Hebrew] Scriptures.”
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Acts 10:43 “To Him [Christ] give ALL THE PROPHETS WITNESS that everyone believing in Him will receive remission of sins.”
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1 Pet. 3:19-20; 4:6; 2 Pet. 2:5 and Heb. 11:7 Those of Noah’s day “when the patience of God waited...For this reason was the gospel preached also to those...[Noah] a preacher of righteousness...the righteousness which is by faith.”
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Gal. 3:8 “...preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all nations shall be blessed [Gen 12:3 and 15:5-6]’.”
GOSPEL PREACHED
TO THOSE BEFORE CONTINUED
• Rom. 4:3 “For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness [Gen. 15:6]’.”
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Heb. 3:16-4:2 Preached to Israel in the wilderness “For who, having heard, rebelled? Was it not [those] who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?... For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them...”
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Rom. 10:16 and Isa. 53:1 Preached to those of Isaiah’s time “But they [Israel] have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, ‘LORD, who has believed our report? [see Isa. 53:1-12]’.” See also Acts 8:30-35.
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Rom. 4:6-8 and Psalm 32:1-2 Preached to those of David’s day “Even as David describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and those whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin’.”
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Rom. 10:16, 18 and Psalm 19:4 and Rom. 1:18-20 The “gospel” has always been taught to the whole world through the physical creation “But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: ‘Their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the end of the world’.” See also Rom. 1:18-20.
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AND to those AFTER—Rev. 14:6 “THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL.”
THE NEW BIRTH IS COMMON
TO ALL AGES
“Art thou a teacher of Israel and knowest not these things” John 3:10
• John 1:12, 13, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to them who believe in His name, who were born [past tense] not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
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Deut. 32:5,
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Deut. 32:6,
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Deut. 32:18,
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Deut. 32:19,
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Deut. 32:20,
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Psalm. 82:6,
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Psalm 103:13 “As a Father pities his children.”
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Isa. 63:16, “Doubtless Thou art our Father.”
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Hosea 1:19, “You are the sons of the living God.”
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Malachi 2:10 “Have we not one Father?”
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Jer. 3:4, “Cry unto Me, ‘My Father’.” Etc., etc., etc.
“His [the LORD’S] children.”
“Is not He [the LORD’S] their Father?” “The Rock [the LORD] that begot thee.”
“The provoking of His [the LORD’S] sons and daughters.” “Children in whom is no faith.”
“You are the children of the Most High.”
SALVATION AND THE FORGIVENESS
OF SINS UNDER
THE OLD COVENANT
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“Look unto Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else”—Isaiah 45:22.
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“The Lord has made known His salvation: His righteousness has He openly revealed in the sight of the heathen...all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God”— Psalm 98: 2, 3.
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“The Lord is near to them that are of a broken heart; and saves such as be of a contrite spirit”—Psalm 34:18.
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“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile... I acknowledge my sin to Thee...and you forgave the iniquity...”—Psalm 32:1-5.
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“I have blotted out as a thick cloud, your sins; return to Me; for I have redeemed you”—Isaiah 44:22.
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“As far as the East is from the West, so far has He removed our transgressions from us”—Psalm 103:12.
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“You have in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for You have cast all my sins behind Your back”—Isaiah 38:17.
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“A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise”—Psalm 51:16, 17.
SALVATION AND FORGIVENESS OF SINS REVEALED IN HEBREW SCRIPTURES AS AN INWARD WASHING, CLEANSING OR PURIFICATION
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Psalm 51:1-3, 7, 10 “Have mercy upon me. O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin... (7) Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow... (10) Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
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Isaiah 1:16-18 “Wash yourselves, and make yourselves clean... Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
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Jeremiah 2:22 and 4:14 “For though you wash yourselves with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before Me, says the Lord your God... O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall vain thoughts lodge within you?”
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Ezekiel 36:25-27 and 33 “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you...I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes...On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will enable you to dwell in the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt.”
FURTHER REFERENCES CONCERNING THE INWARD SPIRITUAL PURIFICATION OF THE HEART
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Job 9:30-31 “If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands ever so clean; yet Thou shalt plunge me in the ditch, and my own clothes shall abhor me.”
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2 Samuel 22:37 “With the pure Thou will show Thyself pure.”
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Psalm 24:3, 4 “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His Holy Place? He that has clean hands, and a pure Heart.”
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Proverbs 16:6 “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged”
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Proverbs 20:9 “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?”
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Isaiah 4:4 “When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion ...by the Spirit of judgment and by the Spirit of burning...”
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Malachi 3:2-5 “But who may abide the day of His coming?...for He is like a refiner’s fire, and like a fuller’s soap: and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.”
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Zechariah 13:1 “In that day there shall be a fountain opened in the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.”
FURTHER REFERENCES CONCERNING THE INWARD PURIFICATION OF THE HEART FROM THE GREEK SCRIPTURES
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Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.”
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James 4:8, “Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double minded.”
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Acts 15:8-9, “So God, Who knows the heart, acknowledged them [the Gentiles of Cornelius’s household] by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.”
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1 Peter 1:22, “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart.”
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Titus 2:14, “...and that He might purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”
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John 3:22-26, “Now John was baptizing in Aenon near Salem...and they came and were baptized...Then there arose a dispute as between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about PURIFICATION. And they came to John and said to him,’Rabbi, He Who was with you beyond the Jordan...He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him.”
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If one remembers that “purification” is simply a synonym for “baptism” he can better understand that the purification of the heart was simply the same as an inward heart baptism. We shall see Christ speak of this in the next chart
CHRIST ALSO SPEAKS OF THE INWARD CLEANSING OR BAPTISM OF THE HEART
A Compilation from Mark 7:1-23; Matt. 15:1-20; Luke 11:37-40 and Matt. 23:25, 26 (KJV or NKJV, Greek Majority text)
“Then the Scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus saying, ‘Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not WASH [ritually] their hands when they eat bread?’...And when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He [Christ] had not first BAPTIZED [Lit. Greek, baptizo] before dinner...For the Pharisees and all the Jews, except they BAPTIZE [baptizo] themselves, they do not eat...and practice the BAPTISMS [baptismos] of cups, and pots, and brazen vessels, and couches ...And the Lord said to him, ‘Now do you Pharisees make CLEAN the OUTSIDE of the cup and platter, but your INWARD PART is full of ravening and wickedness. You fools, did not He [God], that made that which is OUTSIDE, make that which is INSIDE also?’”
In other words, they needed to be WASHED or BAPTIZED on the INSIDE.
“This people honors Me with their lips, but their HEART is far from Me, and in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrine the commandments of men [such as ritual baptism] ... That which comes out of the man is what defiles him. For from WITHIN out of the HEART of men, proceeds evil...and defiles the man...Thou blind Pharisees, CLEANSE first that which is WITHIN [get baptized on the inside]...and the OUTSIDE will be clean as well.”
SALVATION IN THE GREEK SCRIPTURES SPOKEN OF IN TERMS OF THE INWARD WASHING, PURIFICATION OR BAPTISM
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1 Cor. 6:9-11 “Do not be deceived neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were WASHED, but you were SANCTIFIED, but you were JUSTIFIED in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by THE SPIRIT OF OUR GOD.”
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Titus 3:5 “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the WASHING of regeneration and RENEWING of the HOLY SPIRIT.”
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Acts 2:38 “REPENT, and let every one of you be BAPTIZED in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the REMISSION OF SINS; and you shall receive the gift of the HOLY SPIRIT.”
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Acts 22:16 “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be BAPTIZED, and WASH away your SINS, calling on the name of the Lord.”
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1 Cor. 12:13 “For by one SPIRIT we were all BAPTIZED into ONE BODY, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether slaves or free, and have all been made to drink into ONE SPIRIT.”
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Gal. 3:27 “For as many of you as were baptized into Jesus Christ have put on Christ! There is neither slave nor free...male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
SALVATION SPOKEN IN TERMS OF THE INWARD CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART
From Both the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures
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Deut. 10:16, “... circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer.”
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Deut. 30:6, “And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your
descendants, to love the LORD your God.”
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Lev. 26:41, “...if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt.”
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Jer. 4:4, “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskin of your hearts...”
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Jer. 9:26, “...and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.”
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Acts 7:51, “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears!”
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Rom. 2:28-29, “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly: and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, and not the letter...”
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Col. 2:11, 12, “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by the putting off the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the operation of God, Who raised Him from the dead.”
INSTANCES OF SALVATION BY FAITH SPOKEN BY THE LORD
How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which had its commencement in being spoken by the Lord?” Hebrews 2:3
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The Thief on the cross. Luke 23:42-43 “And he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when you come into Your Kingdom.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise’.”
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The Harlot Woman at a feast. Luke 7:36-50 “And He said to her, ‘Thy sins are forgiven, thy faith has saved you; go in peace’.”
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The Paralytic let down through the roof. Mark 2:1-12 “When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the sick of palsy, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven you’.”
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Zacchaeus the tax collector. Luke 19:1-10 “This day has salvation come to this house...For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost.”
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Woman at the Well and many Samaritans. John 4:1-42 “Many of the Samaritans of that city believed on Him, and many more believed because of His own word. . . and [we] know that this is the Savior of the world.”
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Publican in the Temple. Luke 18:9-14 “And the publican, standing far off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner.’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified.”
SALVATION IN CHRIST Spoken of in Many Ways
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“BELIEVE in Him,” John 3:14, 15, 16, 18 and 36, etc. “...that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
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“RECEIVE Him,” John 1:12, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God...”
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“COME” to Him, Matt. 11:26, 29, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest...you will find rest for your souls.”
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“Be BORN AGAIN,” John 3:3, 6, 8, “...unless one is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God...He that is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
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“LOOK” to Him, John 3:14, 15, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up...”
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“DRINK” of Him, John 4:10, 14 and 7:37, 38, “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst...If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink...”
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“EAT this BREAD,” John 6:50-58, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eats of this bread, he shall live forever.”
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“EAT My FLESH and DRINK My BLOOD,” John 6:53, “Most assuredly, I say to you unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you...He who comes to Me shall never hunger and he who believes in Me shall never thirst (v.35)...The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life (v.63).”
SALVATION IN CHRIST Spoken of in Many Ways Continued
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“ENTER by the DOOR,” John 10:9, “I am the Door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”
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“OPEN the DOOR” of your heart, Rev. 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him...”
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Receive “The LIGHT” of Christ, John 8:12, “I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the Light of Life.”
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Be made “FREE” by Christ, John 8:34-36, “A slave [of sin] does not abide in the house forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”
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Go by the “WAY,” John 14:6, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father except through Me.”
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Receive the “TRUTH,” John 18:37, “...I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the Truth. Everyone who is of the Truth hears My voice.”
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Accept the “LIFE,” John 11:25, 26, “I am the resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, yet shall he live...”
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“CALL UPON HIM,” Gen. 4:26; Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21; Rom. 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”