You see, for 20 years of my life I thought I was good with God, and I know I was saved and had his righteousness imputed on me, but I was oh so wrong in that i was not receiving the riches of his grace that he has for us because i was living in the same doctrinal complacency all of you here are. At a moment of Great brokeness and confession of my inadequacy and repentance of those hidden sinful desires, he began to change me from the inside out, to teach me the whole counsel of scripture, and the deep things of God. I Understood then he could not show this to me because I was unreceptive to this, because my doctrine kept me self-deceived as to needing anything. That cycle that @Behold spoke of of sin confession, repentance and sin again was my life then, so I do see how this is used falsely to make one "feel better" about themselves.... but this is not true remorseful Godly repentance (sorrow as Paul calls it), and neither is this what this post is promoting. As I said before to Pearl the confession here is about coming to the humble acceptance of our own error and self-deception, a true remorse for our lack of holiness in the face of a Thrice Holy God.... It is only then that we see how much of a worm we are and how wicked our heart is and how inept we are to change it and how we need the Holy Spirit by his grace to do the work in us that we can become his workmanship... It takes great faith to understand and act upon this faith and trust him to be not just the author of our faith but the finisher of it.
confession and repentance
- Thread starter David H.
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David H, I question the wisdom of continuing, brother.
Look, if someone sees no distinction between righteousness and holiness, what is the point?
You don’t go into an elementary school and begin to teach calculus, do you? It would be wasted effort because the students there are learning basic math and aren’t yet ready to bear calculus.
Idk, I just think you have to let the Spirit guide and He will tell you when to open your mouth and close your mouth and…I’m not saying don’t teach the distinction or don’t correct, but…a man has to be ready to bear a thing and if he’s not, he just won’t hear you. In fact, he might think you crazy or at least greatly deluded. At a certain point, you’ve spoken the truth, you weren’t heard, and now it’s not your problem and needs to be left in Gods hands.
Look, if someone sees no distinction between righteousness and holiness, what is the point?
You don’t go into an elementary school and begin to teach calculus, do you? It would be wasted effort because the students there are learning basic math and aren’t yet ready to bear calculus.
Idk, I just think you have to let the Spirit guide and He will tell you when to open your mouth and close your mouth and…I’m not saying don’t teach the distinction or don’t correct, but…a man has to be ready to bear a thing and if he’s not, he just won’t hear you. In fact, he might think you crazy or at least greatly deluded. At a certain point, you’ve spoken the truth, you weren’t heard, and now it’s not your problem and needs to be left in Gods hands.
This is spiritual riches.
The power of God to live a new life.
Yes, and the process is outlined in verses 5-9 of what we must add to our faith, and these things are the riches of his grace expressed through us, his love being perfected in us.
A changed heart.
Because I know there are others who need to hear what is being said here, and I know how the Holy Spirit moves in people.... sometimes a word spoken will not convict until sometime later in the life of the believer, even though they may resist that word now.
There seems to be much in the way of opinions of others being voiced as truth, among those whom have never even met, much less really gotten to know each other in any significant way.
Much love!
Much love!
Yes, and that changed heart becoming a new style of living. Newness of life, walking in love for others.
Much love!
Paul makes this distinction... see Romans 6:19, Ephesians 4:24
If salvation is all there is to the Christian life, then why is it that all the Epistles addressed to believers encourage those believers to grow beyond their salvation to sanctify (make Holy) their lives? Holiness is the end goal of our Christian journey, we do not stop and rest in our salvation but instead finish the race, press on to the high calling, have God's love perfected in us, etc. Resting in our salvation means we are free to run the race to holiness not burdened by guilt and shame, but a desire to Love God with all our heart.
Isaiah 66:1-2 KJV
1) Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
2) For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
And there is another,
Isaiah 57:15-16 KJV
15) For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
16) For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.
I'm truly helpless but for God, but truly helped by Him. More of His precious promises!
Much love!
Some here do not acknowledge the difference between instant sanctification and progressive sanctification and sometimes you too do not seem to think there is any difference between the two.... When You say things like we have all we need, yet like above you acknowledge the difference between imputed righteousness and holiness. It comes off as confusing.
Yes and no. We rest in our salvation in that we are not trying now to make ourselves saved, or keep ourselves saved, but naturally we go on to maturity. If in fact we do. Not all do.
Removing that guilt and shame, when we really come to believe it's all gone, love is the ready response!
Much love!
Actually…I have never understood imputed righteousness. We trust God, He sees it is the right thing for us to have done, He says we have done the right thing and He forgives our sins because we trust. there is no imputation I can see.
Then we grow in trust and humility and He renews our minds, which honestly, have been really messed up.
Then we should be able to enter into Him to walk in the Spirit when we are ready. And even at that point I see not imputation but rather being IN Him.
I'm sorry you find it confusing, and I'm happy to discuss this more thoroughly.
God has given us all we need, but our faith sometimes begins weak, or we don't realize what He's done for us. And we have habitual ways of thinking that have to be undone and reformed.
We are inexperienced at using the powerful tools He's given us. We are untrusting of His power and willingness to take over our renewal.
We have imputed righteousness in that God accounts to us Jesus' righteousness. We are innocent before God.
We have imparted righteousness in that God has recreated us according to Himself. We are new creatures without flaw.
We are being trained in righteousness in that God is training us to live the new live rather than the old.
We are created with holiness in that God has set us apart for Himself to use to serve others.
We are admonished to live in holiness in that we are to do His works and not our own.
Righteousness is being and doing what is right.
Holiness is being and doing what God wills.
Holiness will dictate what is righteousness in my life, because I serve God, not my conscience.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Much love!
This being one of the clearest presentations of this truth,
2 Peter 1:2-4 KJV
2) Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3) According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4) Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
He has given us all things pertaining to life and godliness. What more do you need than what He's given you?
He's given you air, and lungs, but unless you fill those lungs with that air, you'll still die. He's given you life, and promises, but unless you believe those promises, then what? You will fall short of partaking of His divine nature, in that, having been reborn, you will not grow.
Much love!
The imputation is when God considers us to be innocent of wrongdoing - justified - even though we've done wrong. God isn't making Himself a liar, He's making us righteous, having granted us innocence, even though we did the deed.
It's not just forgiving us, but actually making us not guilty. If you want to discuss this more, I'm happy to, it's up to you.
Much love!
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