Disciple Bob
According to God's word, there is nothing a person can do to become saved except to receive Holy Spirit Baptism by believing the True Gospel. You cannot be saved by your works. Even your ability to believe the Gospel is a gift of God.
Eph. 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."
Romans 11:6 "And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work."
1 Cor. 15:1-4 "Moreover, brethern, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you - unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures."
Immediately upon receiving Jesus as your savior by believing the True Gospel, you receive Gods Holy Spirit, making you a new creation, guaranteeing you eternal life and saving you from eternal punishment (not eternal punishing) which is the second death. Because of the faith and works of Jesus (not your own works or faith) you can be saved from eternal death and are guaranteed eternal life. It is by the faith of Jesus which is given to you as a gift that enables you to believe the True Gospel and receive the True Jesus as your savior.
All should agree that it only seems logical and accurate to say that a person cannot receive eternal life and be saved from eternal death by believing a False Gospel, of which there are many. Satan is called the "Great Deceiver", "The god of this World", "The Father of All Lies" and "The Author of Confusion" for good reason! Most self-proclaimed "Christians" have been deceived, mostly by well meaning but deceived pastors, ministers, bible teachers and other individuals who themselves were also deceived in the same manner. When a person is deceived by the Great Deceiver or his disciples it is extremely difficult to reverse the deception because of human pride, peer pressure and mans' vain traditions which have been taught as though they were doctrines of God.
For those who have ears to hear and are truly wanting to be called out of deception, the following three part explanation of the Gospel regarding salvation will be understood and received by them with a glad heart.
1. If you believe that Jesus (the only begotten Son of God) actually died, not just that his body died, but that He was actually dead, unconscious and not alive, then you are now 1/3 of the way to understanding the True Gospel.
Rev. 1:18 "I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death."
2. If you also believe that when Jesus died as the only acceptable sacrifice to God for sin, you and all men and women, who have ever lived, clear back to Adam, even those who have not yet been born, have had all of their past, present and future sins taken away, therefore forgiven, then you are 2/3 of the way to understanding the True Gospel.
John 1:29 "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"
3. If you also believe that Jesus remained dead and in the grave (tomb), until God, after 3 days and 3 nights, resurrected Jesus back from death to life eternal then you have a correct understanding of the True Gospel.
Matthew 12:40 "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
To properly understand the True Gospel, we must realize that in Old Testament times, prior to the death of Jesus, sins were able to be atoned for by repeated animal sacrifices offered to God by the Priests on behalf of God's chosen people, the Jews (Israel) but not permanently forgive and taken away for the whole world, past, present and future.
Since the perfect, sinless sacrifice of Jesus, our daily sins no longer need to be or can be forgiven a second time because as Jesus said on the cross at His death, "It is finished", meaning no more sacrifice is needed and mankind's sins were not only forgiven, they were all taken away and put behind the back of God and cast away as far as east is from west. God has accepted what Jesus did as payment for the sins of the whole world and no longer remembers or counts anyone's sins against them! That is Good News!
We do still sin and we will suffer the natural consequences of sin but, after salvation, we remain righteous in Gods eyes because of the sacrifice Jesus made for us. That is Good News! The only "sin" that needs to be repented of to receive Holy Spirit baptism (Eternal Life) is the "sin" of unbelief in the Good News of Jesus Christ.
We are never to take the sacrifice of Jesus or the Grace of God lightly or use it as a license to sin but instead, we should be overwhelmed by His love toward us and show our love for God the Father and His Son Jesus by our sacrificial obedience to their will for our lives. We can do this by allowing God by His Spirit to teach us and guide us in the way we should go.
The Good News is not that we can be or need to be forgiven over and over again for our daily sins but that all our sins have been forgiven and will never be counted against us since they were placed on Jesus and taken away at the cross. We should not be continually asking for forgiveness of sins because they were already forgiven at the cross. That is why there is no New Testament scripture requiring us to ask God to forgive our sins.
Yes, we should confess (admit) and agree that we are sinners and needed a savior and now have Jesus as our savior but we should also acknowledge that forgiveness of sin is no longer an issue since Jesus bore them all while on the cross and took them all away! Praise God. That is Good News!
We should not be double-minded regarding the forgiveness of sins. We remain saved by grace. (Not by repeatedly asking for and receiving forgiveness) Even if we sin, God no longer counts our sins against us. Therefore, there is nothing God needs to forgive us of. In order for us to be forgiven again of sin, Jesus would need to be crucified, suffer and die all over again, since His blood sacrifice is required for forgiveness.
We should praise and thank God that our sins have long past been taken away and are no longer counted against us. God does not punish us when we sin but He will allow us to learn the hard way from our sin. We, in effect, punish ourselves when we fail to obey Gods' will for us.
The Good News is not that we can and must ask God for forgiveness each time we sin. What would be the point in doing that? Do we not believe the Good News?
We should quit focusing on sin and focus on Gods' grace and doing His will for our lives. The more sin conscious we become, the more sin we will commit. When we focus on the fact that Jesus has done it all on our behalf and we simply do what the Holy Spirit leads us to do, we will sin less.
Jesus being actually dead and remaining in the grave 3 days and 3 nights and God raising Him from the dead are critical factors to consider when deciding if you have believed the True Gospel or a counterfeit "Gospel".
The Jesus we should receive and the Gospel we should believe is the one proclaiming the Jesus (the only Begotten Son of God) that actually died, taking away the sin of the whole world, was in the tomb for 3 days and 3 nights, after which God raised Him from death unto eternal life.
Rev 1:18 "I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and Hades."
If we believe that Jesus did not die or that only His body died, we are believing a false Gospel.
If we believe that Jesus was not in the tomb dead for 3 days and 3 nights, we are believing a false Gospel.
If we believe that Jesus was not raised from death to Life Eternal by God, we are believing a false Gospel.
Can we be saved by believing a false "Gospel"? If we can be saved by believing a false "Gospel", what is the point of having a True Gospel or any particular Gospel at all? God is good and can be trusted to save all who believe the True Gospel and trust in and receive the True Jesus. But, which Gospel do we believe and which Jesus did we trust in and receive?
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1 Cor. 15: 1-2 "Moreover, brethern, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which you are also saved.......
WHAT IS THE TRUE
GOSPEL OF SALVATION ?