Bible Discussion Replies PAGE 212

Sorry scripture was Revelation 1:19

Revelation 4:1 and beyond are future events that have yet to take place.

Write the things which thou hast seen(past), and the things which are(ch 2-3, Past-Present), and the things which shall be hereafter;(Future: Tribulation is Revelation 4:1 (no one knows when but the Father) - Revelation 19:11-21 (2nd Coming of Christ.

We are in Matthew 24:3-14

God Bless

(Ephesians Part 13):

Ephesians 6:11 - Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

It says put on the whole armor of God, which is a command. And this is Aorist Tense which means do it one time. That's very important!

Put on the whole armor of God. The purpose: that you may be able to what? Stand against the wiles of the devil. The word wiles is the word METHODEA which means methods or schemes. And notice that all of this is to cause us to stand. Not to fight but to stand. Why? Because our position is in Christ at the right hand of the throne of God in the spirit realm!

What do we have to fight Satan for?

Ephesians 6:13 - Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Another command, wherefore take unto you (Aorist Tense), the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand, and that's the word resist, in the evil day, and having done all, that is after everything has been worked out, to stand. In other words, once the dust settles, you're still standing. Stand, not fight!

Well, this is all I have to share in Ephesians from a Biblical Greek perspective. I will begin with Philippians soon, Lord willing!

God Bless!!!

(Ephesians Part 12):

Ephesians 5:31 - For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

The word joined is the word glue, glued to the wife. Once you become one, leave mother and father, period! And they two shall be one flesh. That's a quote from Genesis 2:24.

Ephesians 6:10 - Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

The word finally means summary. The armor of God represents the whole book of Ephesians in summary form. Paul is under house arrest. He is chained to a soldier. Some people think that Paul got this description from the soldier that he is chained to. This is something that is a Jewish concept that might have been inspired by the soldier that was there, but the items as elements of the armor is not anything that is new.

So, he says, finally, my brethren, and here's the first command: be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Be empowered. And this is the only verb in this whole section that is a Present Tense that means be continually empowered in the Lord, literally, in the grip of his strength.

He pictures the believer as being in God's grip. And God's grip is so strong that we are to draw off of the strength of that grip. But instead, we try to wiggle and squirm. And sometimes we are struggling, where most of the time we're struggling against God. Be still and know that I'm God he says.

(Ephesians Part 11):

Ephesians 5:18 - And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, or literally a dissipated or destructive life; but be filled with the Spirit;

The word filled is what is called a present imperative. Be continually being filled with the Holy Spirit. And again, the word filled means to have the human faculties filled. It's influence. Seek to have the Holy Spirit influence your life.

Ephesians 5:21 - Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

This is very important: Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Submission to one another, that is to every believer. And just a short technical point. The word submission in Greek means to be in an orderly relationship.

What that means is there is not a relationship between two people, but between three, you, me, and the Lord. I have to line up with the Lord for a right relationship with you!

In the book of Acts, the disciples said to the ruling Sanhedrin when they said we will not allow you to preach any more in this man's name, and they said whether it's right to obey you rather than God, or God rather than you, you decide. We're going to obey God!

To be in an orderly relationship means that I can submit and function with you, but when you put me in a position to sin against my Lord and violate His word, if I were to obey that, I would be out of order. It's a little confusing but it has to do with lining up with people in the Lord. So, when it says submitting yourselves to one another, it means line up with one another in the Lord.

Hi KidinChrist. If I may add something to this discussion: you're correct that God has no love for Satan & his cohorts, as they have received their initial punishment for their disobedience to their Creator & usurping their position, by being banished from God's Presence. Now they await for their final punishment in the Lake of Fire ( Revelation 20:10).

But as far as God's Love for mankind, in spite of those who hate Him & dabble in all types of wickedness or raising their fists against Him, we know from the Word that this is still the day of Salvation that is offered to them and to each one of us. While there is time, the Gospel that went out after the ascension of our Lord is still the same Gospel that goes out today - the only one that offers God's Salvation, demonstrating His Love for all. If God hates such sinnners now, then the salvation message is useless to them & they would be forever doomed. But we have no such instruction from the Bible, except that which was given to the disciples of Christ to 'go into all nations, teaching, baptizing, and to obey'. But if any would not receive them or hear them, they were to depart from there, 'shaking the dust from their sandals as a testimony against their obstinacy'.

And yet, Jesus taught an important aspect of God's Love & God loving all, in Luke 6:32, "For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them." We can easily understand this verse when we apply it ourselves, but the same principle applies to how God loves us. If God only loved those who returned their love to Him, how does that reflect on God's attitude to both the loving and unloving towards Him? We might fail in this by showing love & favor to those who are kind & loving towards us & not so (or, not so much) to those who despise us, but does God behave as we do, we who have carnal tendencies? If Jesus' Words & Life perfectly reflected His Father, then we know that God still loves all sinners.

Hi again KidinChrist.

Thanks for the clarity.

There are those who reject the precious gift of Christ and there are those who are deceived.

I would refer you to Psalms 5:4-5

"For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.

The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all WORKERS OF INIQUITY.

I believe the phrase WORKERS OF INIQUITY refers to people who actively engage in sinful behavior, oppose righteousness and defy God's laws.

Blessings.

S Spencer,

Thanks for your reply and using biblical precepts for explaining. I didn't provide much clarity in my initial question. If one deliberately lives a life of sin, and takes pride in being a sinner by devoting their life to Satan, (i.e. witchcraft, sorcery, ect.) and have a made up mind to hate the Almighty God with all their heart & soul; Does the Almighty God love them? God doesn't love Satan nor the fallen ones that were kicked out of the Kingdom along with Satan. I hope this brings more depth.

-Peace and blessings

True Believer if I may say. Great words you wrote. There is a Famous saying " we are not sinners because we sin, we are sinners because we are born sinners ".

Now we all know why we are sinners, it's one man's disobedience. " Adam "

Romans 5:19

For as by one man's disobedience many were madesinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

Blame it on Adam disobedience to God for our death, but God gives life .

1 Corinthians 15:22

For as inAdamall die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

We may all die in the flesh some day, but God give life through Jesus Christ .

Romans 6:23

For thewagesofsinis death; but the giftofGod is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Ray , in Christ Jesus 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 the gospel that saves today in Apostle Paul's epistle.

Jesus came to save those who are lost.

No not everyone will enter into his kingdom.

Some post declares that only some have a chance at salvation.

I come not into the world to condemn the world, but the world through him might be saved.

Key words The World and might be saved.

Read Romans chapter 1 people have a choice to follow or not to follow.

Be Blessed...

Hi KidinChrist.

The Bible's definition of sin is found in 1 John 3:4, which states, "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law".

The Hebrew word for sin is khata, which means "to fail" or "to miss the goal".

The Bible says that all people have sinned, and that sin leads to death.

Romans 5:6-10 reads "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

This shows that God loves sinners and died for them while they were still sinners.

Christ was lifted up on the cross "That WHOSOEVER believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

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.

This is a display of God's Love in his redemptive plans of salvation to a lost world.

(For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.)

SO YES! This display of Love and INVITATION is to all sinners!!

HOWEVER, God doesn't pardon the sinner BY his Love!

HE PROVIDED A SAVIOR BY HIS LOVE!

Christ was lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish!

Blessings

Hi Mrs. Rosetta, I just want to encourage you to trust God my sister. Matthew 11:28-29 reads Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29) Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. look unto Jesus my sister and don't let Satan bring you down .

DEPRAVITY

Pt. 1

He is slow to reach the boiling point. This is part of his forbearance, and of his graciousness, and of his long suffering with our wickedness. And yet the scriptures say to us here something that we must not overlook, dear friends, God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day.

If you are not a Christian, if you have not made peace with God, if you were still estranged from God, if you have never been reconciled to God, then you must hear these words, that God is angry with you. And not only is he angry with you, but he's angry with you every single day.T

Friends, I don't like to have people mad me. I'm uncomfortable when people exhibit, or manifest, or express anger towards me. It's an intimidating thing. It's an embarrassing thing. But can you imagine what it would be like to have the God of heaven and earth angry with you every day?

And yet, if we are to understand this whole concept of anger, here's where we have to start, that anger is real. And the ultimate source of it is God himself, whose anger is always and everywhere just and justified."

Excerpt from R.C. Sproul "The Righteous Anger of God"

This is all for tonight.

The next section will address the concept of God desiring all men to be saved and why all are not saved. This may take me a few days as I study and compose it in Word. Thanks again for reading along in this journey of mine.

Good Evening.

to pick up where I left off last night:

As believers, we should acknowledge the fact of our depravity, corruptness, rebelliousness, and sinfulness before God. We should know that we deserve all of the judgements of God, but be grateful to Him for electing us to receive His favor, grace and mercy that transforms us into vessels of His mercy for the praise of His glorious grace ( Rom. 1:6-14)

And we must also acknowledge that every person who was not elected to be saved by God deserves God's condemnation and that it is a just and right action of God and we should not accuse God of being unfair, unjust, unrighteous, or cruel for executing all He wishes upon sinners.

Romans 3:5

Romans 2:2

Ps. 9:8

Ps. 96:13

Ps. 11:7

Ps. 54:1

Ps. 119:7, 137

Ps. 7:11

Is. 5:16

To us it may seem unfair for God to not elect all humans. If God did elect all humans to salvation then that would mean that the doctrine of universalism would be true: that all humans will be saved. But it is clear that Scriptures do not teach this.

I will end this section on the depravity of man with this excerpt:

EXCERPT

"Because God is a righteous Judge, He is angry with the wicked every day ( Ps. 7:11). Today, R.C. Sproul explains how this wrathful indignation is justified.

Transcript

A perfectly holy judge of all of the world, who is incapable of being angry about evil, could not possibly be good.

God's anger, as we say, is righteous indignation. And it is an appropriate response to the reality of injustice. It is injustice that angers God. And it is because he is just, it is because he is righteous, it is because he is Holy that he has wrath.

Now the scriptures repeatedly declare that God himself is slow to anger. He's not a hothead. He doesn't come up with unprovoked fury. He is slow to reach the boiling point.

See Pt. 12

Hello again Mother Mac.

Yes, those two Scripture verses are well worth taking seriously. We all should hope to stand before God humbly asking for help in overcoming sin, character flaws, and be shown how we are out of sorts with the truth of God's Word. I pray to remain teachable, hungry for the things of God, and to grow as a listener. Be blessed tonight.

Cody, I am so sorry for this diagnosis for you. You are so young!

I will certainly be praying for you and your health as you treat this condition.

Thanks Chris for your thoughtful response.

My focus in this series of posts was to highlight the state of unregenerated mankind. I hope I have done well with this topic.

I will be speaking to the topics you mentioned in time. I am trying to let the Holy Spirit guide me as to the order of the topics presented. I do not have a hard and fast plan here, but will get to topics that seem to spring from and connect the previous topics.

I know S. Spencer and you have questions for me. I hope you both can be patient in this process I am going through. Please know that I mean well in all of this and do not wish to stir up any contention or acrimony among people here.

For me, this endeavor is helping me really get at the meat of these topics for myself. I may change my mind on some, for sure. I have not arrived in any way at a final fixed viewpoint yet and may not in this life. But diving into Scripture and learning as I go is worthwhile to me. I hope others may be helped in some way. This is not to elevate me in any way. I am on a journey and sharing that with people here. So, anyone can chime in and speak on their take on the topics I bring forward. I know I have much to learn and ways to grow in the Lord. This present journey is part of that for me at this time.

Talk to you soon.

Thanks GiGi for presenting this very important topic of 'Mankind's spiritual depravity'. You have certainly given the matter excellent treatment showing how detestable our sinful condition is before a most Holy God. And yet, He has not abandoned us, but given us a way of escape from this entrapment, in & through His blessed Son. He has done it all, for He knew we could not do any of it for ourselves - not one iota. However, I will withold comment on some of your other parts (you will know which ones) till you address the matter of Election (where this would be more fully dealt with I'm sure).

All I would ask, as I've read through your submission here, is if you would in due course define your understanding of 'Regeneration' (for I suspect that we are not on the same page with it); and the matter of God's Love for all, yet His determination (according to His Will & Purpose) to save some & not others. So, I won't bring it up in this part of your postings. Thanks again, reminding us of our once awful state before God & His renewal work in us to bring about a complete transformation in every area of our lives.

Dear Mother Mac,

Thank you for your response.

John chapter 16 verse 22 is an awesome verse , one of many I know , but it specifically feels like it's talking to me today . Thanks to God for His Word of life , peace and comfort in these crazy end days .

God loves sinners?

Agreed. Christ is soon to return to earth.

Why put water on the altar?

Because the drought, water was Very valuable.God wants you put your most valuable thing on the altar:your soul.

Reply to "DEPRAVITY" by Gigi

Thanks for your thoughts on the subject. It has certainly stirred up my "reasoning."

Two scriptures that came to mind as I was reading your post was Psalms 19:12 & 13, where we pray to the Lord to make us better.

Thank you!

"keeping of them there is great reward. 12Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. 13Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. 1" KJV

DEPRAVITY

Pt. 10

Because I have believed in God, the gospel, and Jesus all my life, my life experience of living in God's favor clouded what I thought was the true Scriptural state of fallen man. I was granting far more to man in fallen state than is true because I have lived my life as a regenerated elect child of God under His grace, not as a vessel of wrath but one who God made a vessel of mercy early in my life as long as I can recall. In my immaturity and ignorance I held to a skewed view of humanity as being able to choose for or against God depending on one's will to cooperate with God or not. But my reasoning was not reflective of what Scripture truly taught. And when I seriously searched Scripture to find out what is true on this matter, I changed my belief to align with Scripture, not just what I had been taught or exposed to over time nor according to my lack of mature understanding of Scripture truth.

GOD'S RIGHT TO EXECUTE HIS WRATH AND JUSTICE AND TO GRANT HIS GRACE AND MERCY TO WHOM HE CHOOSES

God's perfect holiness and righteousness warrants His condemnation of sin and evil. He is just to condemn all humans and the sinful angels to eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire. All sinful beings deserve this judgment. It is just for God to judge this way. Humans may find that the exercise of His wrath, justice and eternal punishment incompatible with His love for sinners. But in God's infinite greatness both His love for sinners and His hate wrath for sinners are both true of Him. He does not make mistakes or act unholy and unrighteous ever. So, as humans, it is important that we accept this truth and not defame God's name by accusing Him of being wrong for having humans experience his wrath, judgment, and punishment. He is just and righteous in ALL of His ways. .

I will stop for tonight and pick up posting the rest on this topic tomorrow.

DEPRAVITY

Pt. 9

Note: the Got Questions excerpt begins with this:

This statement, "all have sinned," is found in Romans 3:23 ("For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God") and in the last clause of Romans 5:12 ("because all sinned"). Basically, it means that we're all lawbreakers, because sin is the violation of God's law ( 1 John 3:4). Sinfulness is the general characteristic of all mankind; we are all guilty before God. We are sinners by nature and by our own acts of transgression.

and ends with this

"The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God" ( Psalm 14:2). And what does the all-seeing God find? "All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one" (verse 3). In other words, all have sinned."

To continue with my thoughts:

Some of Arminian persuasion do agree that fallen man needs God's grace to turn to Jesus, but tend to avow that God gives just enough grace for one to be free to make a choice for or against Jesus and His salvation. But my studies, especially in Romans, Ephesians, and Galatians, convinced me that God gives grace in full measure to His elect, not to only be freed to make a choice for or against the gospel, rather He grants His grace that ensures that the elect will repent and believe unto salvation. I will discuss this more in the next section. But for now, I think that when I came understand and accept the truth about man's depravity and inability to come to God before regeneration I can become so gladdened and thankful for what God has done in my life as one of His elect. These truths to me have become glorious as I came to the conviction that God's will is so much better than my own and His saving nature is supreme over my sinful nature. Therefore, I came to trust God more and more and surrender more and more of my reliance, reasoning, logic, and trust in what I thought was man's strengths to God.

See Pt. 10

DEPRAVITY

Pt. 8

No one can make themselves vessels of mercy, as it is not by the will of man, but by the election of God that any are saved and made anew into a vessel of mercy through the washing and regeneration of the Holy Spirit, who alone wills our redemption and turns us to God through grace and mercy alone ( Rom. 9:15-16; Jn. 1:13)

God did not look ahead into time to see who would freely choose Him when He predestined those who would be saved because no one would choose Him without His regenerative work. No, we bring nothing to God in His sovereign will to elect any person. Salvation is not dependent on anything we do, because in our depravity, we are impotent to do anything to merit God's favor.

Many believers struggle with coming to grips with these truths, especially if they tend towards Arminian beliefs. I struggled with these, especially Romans 9, when I thought that surely God elected those who He knew would choose Him and desire to be saved. But when I took to studying Romans 1-11 seriously I could no longer believe along Arminian lines of thinking.

These chapters in Romans make it quite clear that man is absolutely unable to choose God and salvation in their own depraved will, in their unregenerated state. And I had to break from the error that unregenerated man could in any way cooperate with God in regeneration. For Romans 9 clearly says that God has mercy on whom he has mercy and that it is not by any will of man that one is elected. I had to come to realize that God is free to save whom He wills to save and does not save any whom He does not will to save. This realization took a long time for me to come to accept. But now that I understand it so much better, the truth of man's inability to come to God on His own unless God has already elected them and regenerates them.

See Pt. 9

(oops-I forgot to insert where the Got Questions excerpt ended! So sorry! I will find that break point and post it.)

DEPRAVITY

PT. 7

They do not submit themselves to God or to His righteous standards for they lack a new holy nature that makes then able to prefer God over sin, to believe in Jesus over self-rule, and to see themselves as in need of salvation that is only in Jesus by grace. Unregenerate man invariably think that they can establish the terms of righteousness for themselves instead of honoring God in His perfect holiness and morality as the only one who can determine what is right and wrong. Every fallen man relies on what is right in His own eyes as his moral standard as opposed to what is right in God's eyes. ( Pr. 12:15; 14:12; 21:2-3; Jdg. 21:25; Dt. 12:8;Is. 53:6; Rom. 1:21-22) Fallen man calls evil good and good evil (Is 5:20).

Unregenerated humans think that they are basically "good" people with some faults, but not thoroughly corrupted by sinfulness. But humans are not basically good, we cannot do one good thing in this life. ( Rom. 7:18). Gen. 6:5 describes the state of unregenerate humanity as continually sinful, inventing new ways to sin against God, always inclined to sin and habitually pursuing evil. How wicked are we in our unregenerated state!

We are not just a little bit sinful, but wholly sinful, and God cannot "look on us" in our sinful state ( Hab. 1:13) in the sense that He must turn away from evil though He remains fully aware of all sin and evil as it occurs. Hab. 1:13 reflects God's hatred of sin and its total offensiveness to Him. In our sinfulness we are an abomination to Him and deserving of the eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire.

See Pt. 8

DEPRAVITY

Pt. 6

We are hopeless without God's direct intervention of regeneration. Only as new creatures in Christ are me made able to respond to God's call and will to believe because the grace that regenerates us also implants faith in us to believe the gospel and desire fellowship with God.

Our depravity stays with us throughout our earthly life and, even as believers, it continues to affect us. As believers, we battle against our own sinfulness continuously and only have victory over sin due to the Person, work and power of the Holy Spirit in us. Though we have been born again and have a new nature in Christ that we did not have prior to regeneration, we still retain our sinful nature in this present earthly life.

Every human will sin because each of us are sinful. Our human nature is sinfully oriented to evil because of Adam's sin. Only a new holy nature is able to overcome the sinful nature day by day. Without this new nature, we could not desire to war against our sinful nature (the flesh, as Paul calls it).

Unregenerate humans choose to commit sin because they believe they will be happy if they choose it. They believe that the happiness of sin is better than being in Christ Jesus who is the best, richest, most profound, and most satisfying treasure and pleasure any human can have. But sinful humans do not want the treasure and pleasure of God in Christ. Sinful humans do not wish to spend eternity in heaven with God.

Sinful humans love their freedom to sin at will and enjoy being hostile to God. Sinful humans want to be autonomous, self-determined creatures and the only authority they need to have is themselves. Believing and accepting that God is sovereign and the determiner of one's eternal destiny is not what they will accept.

See Pt. 7

DEPRAVITY

Pt. 5

Before being regenerated we obey our sinful nature, which we are slaves to and we disobey God, who we do not wish please nor can we seek Him, desire Him, call on Him, or do any righteous act while aliened from God as His enemy and our stubborn resistance to believe Him, though we know He exists, as He has revealed Himself to humanity. Humans cannot please God for every aspect of themselves that contributes to their decisions, even to do good to others, is tainted by sin. Any actions we may consider to be righteous can never erase any of our own sin nor can we be reconciled to God by our own acts of righteousness. Romans 9:32 says that humans try to establish their own righteousness before God by obeying the law, but God does not accept any of it. This is because, as James 1:2 says, that if one obeys all of the law except one time disobeying one requirement of the law that person is guilty of breaking all of the law as far as God is concerned.

So, then, every one of us are guilty of all the law before God because we resist Him in our ways, words and work to circumvent His authority and sovereignty continually. We are at enmity to God and will not submit to His rule and reign in our lives and hearts, nor can unregenerate flesh do so. ( Romans 8:7)

Fallen humans are without God, without hope, without righteousness, without redemption, without the ability to contribute anything towards their salvation. Fallen humans are lost, worthless to God, alienated from Him, separated from Him, unable to come to Him unless God chooses a person to be saved by election, by God's sovereign choice. ( Romans 9:16)

Scripture makes clear in so many passages that unregenerated cannot, due to lack of ability, and will not, due to preferring sin to obedience, effect a remedy their fallen state before God. It is a sovereign free act of God that saves anyone. We cannot compel God to save us, neither can we choose Him in our unredeemed state.

See Pt. 6