Featured Salvation question

In order to be saved one has to repent of their sins turn to Christ alone. John 14:6 who do you turn to if you do not believe that Christ is who He say's He is.

 

How can one believe in that which they cannot say for sure is real?

 

He was raised in a very strong,legalistic Christian home... I believe that right here is the key to his unbelief in God. To me he see a God of judgement and that is all he sees. My wife was also raised in a legalistic Christian home and she also believed that for along time not knowing the God of love and grace. God is the only one that can turn him around and the time will come as it is only God that can change his heart. Legalism and grace cannot co-exist together... The work is all of Christ and his alone!... Brother Glen

 

Thats correct...but he could be backsliding. Something traumatic could have led him to question. Now he isnt walking the talk so he has been shaken to the core. I wouldnt be worried though, God is there & He knows & He will prevail. If this man is one of Gods Elect, then NO WORRIES. He will be looked after.

 

The answer is no. Jesus said we must believe in the One who sent Him in order to believe in Him, John 12:44

 

You cannot separate those two nor pit them against one another.

 

Jesus began his ministry with the words "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Why do you suppose he said this? Also, Peter says in 2 Peter 3:9 that the Lord is longsuffering and patient, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. If repentance does not precede salvation, then what is God "longsuffering" for?

 

I think you misjudge what is meant by repentance of sin. When that is said in reference to salvation it is never intended to suggest that we need to clean up our lives first and then come to God.

However, what is mean by that is that we do recognize that we are sinners and agree that living a life against God is no longer acceptable. We agree that we are no longer going to perform such things as that which Christ was beaten and died for that we may be saved from their penalty.

Understanding that we are sinners and that such behavior is not acceptable to God is not a work.

 

Luke 13:3 & 5 Lest you repent you shall likewise parish. Read it however you want to, I repented!

 

Not sure if you are drawing a distinction between believing in God and being "assured" God is real. I see no distinction, to believe in God requires, to my mind, the belief that God is real.

John 12:44 says, "And Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me."

God knows our heart, our innermost convictions and beliefs. He is the one who decides whether our belief meets His requirements, He is the one who credits our faith as righteousness or not.

In Matthew 7 we see folks, like your friend, who engaged in ministry and claimed Jesus as Lord. But Jesus said, I never knew you, meaning their faith was not credited as righteousness and God therefore did not put them spiritually in Christ.

Now I understand my belief in God is based on faith and not on compelling external evidence. But I believe when I die I will go to be present with the Lord, and that assurance of the sure and certain resurrection is rock solid. I am a really simple guy, Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.

 

No mam, I do not mean to be argumentative but faith is the confidence to act it is not the action itself. I am not "faithing" by sitting is a chair. Faith in the fact that the chair will hold me is what leads me to act and sit in the chair.