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1stCenturyLady
Well-Known Member
. We either HAVE the Spirit and do not live in the old carnal nature, or our carnal nature has never been taken away by the cleansing blood of Christ and the Cross.
Paul said in Galatians that a born again believer can "fall from Grace".
This means they can return to self righteousness in their "carnal" mind, yet still be born again spiritually.
Correct faith is divine power of God.
Actually, when a person comes to God by Faith, that is not God's Faith, as divine power.
That is a sinner believing in Jesus, and God accepts their faith in Christ, to accept them.
6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
The verse says that they repented, but it does not say the were born again.
So, in that case, you can compare this one to the unsaved Hebrews, who "crucified Christ afresh" in Hebrews 10.
Neither were born again.
We can never stop being born again, as this isn't a 'faith thing"....this is a God thing, a HolySpirit operation, that is eternally completed.
We do not struggle with the sins pertaining to your quote: "that which i want to do i can't, and that which i hate, i do" of life under the law of the OT in Romans 7.
I've talked to so many believers who are trying to live holy and are instead "sinning and confessing".
Most are born again.
Many on this Forum are assuring me that they sin and so that means i should be doing it also.
They worry about some cult teaching..>"sinless perfection" that has them very confused, as it was designed to confuse them.
They dont understand that they are not under the law, and they can't understand that being "under Grace" has resolved their Salvation.
So, they are both striving to be good, which is impossible, while trying not to lose their salvation.
Most are probably saved, but they have been taught that "sinning and confessing" is what they are supposed to do.
They believe it and that is FAITH, and you get what you believe.
This is why the first thing that is cleansed out of our nature are the mortal sins of death as judgment, the type of sin that are against the Ten Commandments - called lawlessness. They are taken out of us and we cannot commit them taking us from death to eternal life. If we still can, they've never been taken away in the first place.
All iniquity is Lawlessness.
The "iniquity" that was found in Lucifer is "lawlessness" manifested as the Adamic nature.
I didnt "think" myself into the new birth. I was regenerated by God when i gave God my Faith in Christ, exactly as everyone who gives God their faith in Christ.
I don't think i have God's Rightousess., i have been given it as "the gift of Salvation".
"The Gift of Righteousness".
The Law is not faith.
They are opposites.
Jesus is the Author of our faith, by being the one in whom we Trust.
Jesus is the finisher of our faith by making it everlasting.
This is the same idea as Philippians 1:6
It says that God is FAITHFUL to complete what He started IN US.
So, all of this is in the context of : Salvation and being Born again.
I have spoken about this on another thread, very interesting, when you say you gave God your faith in Christ, where did that faith and belief come from?
For myself, God drew me to Jesus, He gave me the “ Faith” to believe in Jesus.......as soon as the belief in Jesus happened, then I was birthed in the Spirit.
We can only come to the Father through the Son....Without Jesus there would be no birth, plus the Spiritual birth is a living birth...there is no mistake about that. for me and I say me only....that is the only way I know I was born again...and I have NEVER doubted my birth in the Spirit.....but, many have thought I had lost the plot, which is completely understandable.....how can anyone explain how they were birthed in the Spirit.
It’s a supernatural birth, that only God knows how to do it.....it’s amazing how he does it, I’ve stopped racking my brain now, trying to understand how the Holy Spirit did it........all will be revealed one day.....Praise God for His Amazing Living Holy Spirit....who resides in little old me...an undeserving wretched sinner that I once used to be.
John 3:6-8
New International Version
6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[a] gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You[b] must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”[I also believe GOT answer here.
Where does faith come from?
Faith is the avenue or the instrument God uses to bring salvation to His people. God gives faith because of His grace and mercy, because He loves us (Ephesians 4—5). Faith comes from God in the form of a gift (Ephesians 2:8).
A gift is not earned by some good deed or kind word, and it is not given because the giver expects a gift in return—under any of those conditions, a gift would not be a gift. The Bible emphasizes that faith is a gift because God deserves all of the glory for our salvation. If the receiver of faith could do anything whatsoever to deserve or earn the gift, that person would have every right to boast (Ephesians 2:9). But all such boasting is excluded (Romans 3:27). God wants Christians to understand they have done nothing to earn faith, it’s only because of what Christ did on the cross that God gives anyone faith (Ephesians 2:5, 16)
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Where does faith come from?
It comes from the place in the heart that hears the Gospel and believes it.
like this..
"FAITH.......comes from hearing".... the Gospel.
Being made in the "image" of God, allows us to have free will.
This is "choice" that is based on understanding distinctions between things, and situations.
When a person "hears" the Gospel, the Holy Spirit does this.....
= Christ said.."if i be LIFTED UP, i will draw all people to me"...
"Lifted up" has 2 meanings....it literally means that Christ was nailed to The Cross and then the Cross was lifted up, with Christ on it.
Also, it means........that when someone shares the Gospel, they are lifting Him up, by "preaching the Cross".
"The preaching of the Cross is the power of God, unto Salvation"... So, to hear the Gospel of Christ on the Cross, and to BELIEVE IT, is to put your faith in it's Truth.
God does not cause you to have Faith..... He only brings the Gospel to you and then you choose to believe.
Faith is a choice to believe.
I don’t believe that faith is a choice to believe.
When God speaks directly to your heart, you have no choice but to believe.....that’s it you are born again, by the testifying with our spirit ,that we are children of God, God testifies with our spirit that we are his...There is no doubt whatsoever...it’s called being birthed in the Spirit, which is a living spiritual birth...that is my belief..
I have no idea what you mean when you say, we choose to believe..that would be us then doing the work, which isn’t biblical.
God does.
In fact everyone who went to hell today, did so because they would not believe.
They made that choice.
If you read the bible, then read Hebrews 10:26 and Acts 28:28.
You will find this happening.
= "Christ REJECTION".
You will read that the Apostle Paul is sharing the Gospel with unsaved HEBREWS. (Jews)
They hear it, and they will not believe it.
They made that choice, exactly as every other Christ rejector made it, who died and went to hell today.
Maybe so, and yes, I don’t fully understand a lot of hearing the word and many rejecting his word.
For the life of me,I just cannot comprehend anyone doing that, because my birthed in the Spirit was like a bolt of lightning.....there is no way I could not believe.....as God testified with my spirit that I am his child....it was mind blowing.
I just can’t get my head around people rejecting Christ....but there it is, thanks for the explanation...it will help me understand more, once I’ve read that scripture.
You believed and then came the lightning.
The lightning does not come first, tho you might think it did.
There is no salvation that comes before you hear the Gospel.
See, you were not walking down the street one day, listening to Metallica and God knocked you down with Salvation.
I believed, because God brought me to believe in Jesus, I did not bring myself to believe....God drew me to Jesus, through his great mercy and love, I did nothing to deserve his favour, he uses me as and when he chooses, and it’s all to the Glory of His Name.......no one will ever convince me, that I chose to be birthed in the Spirit, I did not, God Chose me and I thank him daily for it.
There is scripture to back up that he knew us before we were even born..
I was taught all about Jesus at school, I also worked for a vicar.
I’m not going down the road of my testimony...I have been birthed in the Spirit, which I have known since day one...I have never ever doubted my faith....the reason being...God gave it to me.
Unfortunately you don’t seem to understand some of my testimony, which is fine, as long as I do and of course God...no one can take or remove the word of God from his children’s heart/ spirit...
I didnt ask you for your Testimony.
I asked you to tell us when you first heard about Jesus.
So, from the moment you heard about Jesus, you are "hearing the Gospel" and from that 1st hearing.....later on ,...later on you placed your faith in Christ.
Why?
Because "FAITH comes by hearing" and Hearing by the word of God.
I heard the gospel from other people who were teaching it at the time, they weren’t God...so, there was no belief fromme.
It was God who brought me to faith and believe in his Son,Jesus....God spoke to my spirit, birthed me in the Spirit, that is the only way I knew I was born again.
It must come from the Holy Spirit, which is the Living word of God....God’s word is Alive And Active, he isn’t a book, he’s a living Holy Spirit, who indwells his children and if and when he chooses, he speaks through them..
And God caused this hearing to be mixed with Holy Spirit revelation = that what you were hearing was TRUE.
This is to bring you to the "knowledge of the Truth"... and God does that for you, but He does not cause you to BELIEVE this TRUTH.
He only REVEALS it......as True.
You believed it., that is your step of faith......free will...... and God took your Faith and gave you His Salvation.
I’m afraid I will have to agree to disagree with you on this....he birthed me in the Spirit , so I had no choice to believe, as we all know, God knows who are his or will be his, before I was even born.
