Featured Good In Bad People?

Speaking for myself as a sinner and sometimes a virulent scoundrel, I believe we are just as indispensable to mankind as are so called good men. We sinners bring vitality and enterprise to what would otherwise be a very dull existence. My premise is that the Lord loves us because we are being prioritized to be in heaven. After all, populating heaven with people who enliven things is preferable to a bunch of dullard Puritanical types don’t you think?!?

 

How do you get that from Acts 10?

 

Mark 10:18
And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
Are the unredeemed found to be "in Christ?" Can you show me scripture where they are found in Christ?

I can show you how God uses wicked people.
Habakkuk 1:5-11
“Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own. They are dreaded and fearsome; their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour. They all come for violence, all their faces forward. They gather captives like sand. At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it. Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god!”

 

No I don't. I honestly don't need to even look at your posts to know they are out of context twists of Scripture if it has anything to do with Salvation/Grace/Faith/Etc

 

Your ignorance of the Puritans is showing.

 

It depends, what do you mean by backslide? If you mean fall into a season of sin? Yes. My theology, which is biblical, says that can and does happen.

Yes David was saved and David will be in Heaven. That doesn't mean that for the saved there are no consequences when we sin.

 

And who said this was before regeneration?

 

Did I say saved? No, I said regenerated.

 

The Word of God makes it clear that this is before regeneration:


Acts 11:13-18 King James Version

13 And he shewed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter;

14 Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.

15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning.

16 Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.

17 Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?

18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.


The words by which Cornelius was saved (contrasted to the Law through which he was justified) was the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Cornelius was baptized into Christ when he heard the Gospel.

And since the Gospel of Christ was a Mystery, and not revealed unto men in past Ages and Genreations, it is not possible to see men as being regenerate before being placed in Christ.

So according to the commentary of Scripture, as spoken by Peter, Cornelius was not saved according to New Covenant condition. He was baptized with the Holy Ghost after he heard the Gospel, and received repentance unto (eternal) life at that time.

This is also the case of the disciples:


Acts 1:4-5 King James Version

4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.



Peter defines salvation as hearing the words which save, being baptized with the Holy Ghost (our Eternal Union with God), and receiving life. No man had life prior to Christ coming into the world that men might have everlasting life.

Regeneration, the New Birth, is the receiving of Eternal Life through Christ Jesus. That is why we are New Creatures.

No man was reconciled to God until God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.

There is no eternal indwelling of God in the Old Testament, only the filling. Christ spoke of the eternal indwelling of God as something that would take place at a future time:


John 14:15-23 King James Version

15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.

20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?

23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.


"In that day" is a reference to Pentecost, and that is why we see Peter rejecting (not simply denying it) the Gospel of Christ prior to Pentecost (Matthew 16:20-23) and Peter preaching the Gospel the very day he was baptized with the Holy Ghost.



God bless.

 

So one can be a born again believer but not be saved?


God bless.

 

You point out precisely why it is impossible for men to have been born again in the Old Testament: they all died awaiting Eternal Redemption.

Which was accomplished by Christ:


Hebrews 9:12-15 King James Version

12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:

14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.


Because Hebrews is specific to Hebrews, the transgressions of the Law are said to be redeemed by Christ's Offering. His Redemption is also meant for those prior to the establishment of the Covenant of Law.

The promise of God to forgive sin in an eternal context (forever) is part of the promise of God in regards to the day He would establish a new Covenant:


Hebrews 10:15-18 King James Version

15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,

16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.


And the New Covenant had no power and was not in force as long as the Testator (Christ) was still alive:


Hebrews 9:16-18 King James Version

16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.

17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.

18 Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.


So as I said, your statement makes the point men were not regenerate in the Old Testament:

There are none good except God.

There are none righteous except God.

No, not even one.

That is why men still have to be redeemed through the Sacrifice of Christ. That is why even the transgressions of the Old Testament Saint remained unredeemed, because Christ had not yet atoned for them. That is Paul's point here:


Romans 3:20-26 King James Version

20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.


Abraham's deeds were accounted to him righteousness. By deeds, I refer to his belief and faith (and in that order). Those are something Abraham did.

Dying on the Cross is something Christ did. Alone. Because His disciples fled and abandoned Him.

That is how one can be declared righteous under an Old Testament standard and still be counted with those who are not righteous, and that is everyone that has not had the righteousness of Christ imputed to their behalf.

Every passage above shows that Christ's death and the Redemption He obtained for us is distinct from Old Testament Economies.

When did Christ's righteousness begin to be declared? It wasn't before His death, because the Gospel was a Mystery not revealed to the sons of men, past Ages, or past Generations.

That seems pretty all-inclusive to me. Hence, "There is none righteous, no, not one."

We know men were not in Christ even up to the point of His death, and including His disciples. This is according to His Word in John 14:15-23.

Men who are not in Christ are not regenerate. No man was in Christ until Pentecost.

No man was regenerate in the Old Testament.


God bless.

 

On the contrary…When you have studied them as far as I have in depth you will hate them from the bowels of your soul. Not all though, I like John Owen and I liked Cromwell. You could keep Cotton Mather though.

So should we begin with discussing the varied Covenant Theologies next?

 

Not even going to entertain the blatant strawman argument.

 

What do we do with Gentiles outside of the prescribed means of relationship being justified apart from the Law (Romans 2)—if it is impossible for men to do things pleasing to God outside of the prescribed means of relationship?

Paul teaches that men receive the testimony of Creation and an internal witness from God Himself (His law written on their hearts). If He did so then, why would it be thought impossible for Him to still do that? There have been many that have not heard the Gospel and have not received opportunity to be obedient to His will and come into relationship through the now prescribed method. Is it absurd to think that God's grace just might extend to them, just as it extended to everyone in the Old Testament, who also lived and died not having the Gospel Mystery revealed unto them?

But here's what we have to keep in mind: only those who receive the Gospel are brought into Eternal Union with God. While I am of a view that God is consistent and that His grace and mercy far exceeds what man can think, and that it is a possibility that those who do things pleasing unto God may not suffer eternal damnation, I still think that our responsibility is to see men come to a saving knowledge of Christ while they are alive.

Unborn babies are an example of those who will never have the opportunity to receive Christ while alive. Will God be merciful? If so, why?

I suggest He will show the same mercy shown to every Old Testament Saint that did not specifically turn to the RIsen Savior when the Gospel Mystery was unveiled to them by the Comforter. He will, as He consistently does throughout Scripture, judge everyone based not only on the revelation provided to them and their response to that (obedience and disobedience, as exampled in Romans 2), but also according to their understanding of that revelation.

Unborn babies can have no understanding of revelation, just as the Old Testament Saint did not have the understanding we have of the Gospel as presented in the Old Testament (i.e., Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 53, et cetera).

Judgment is consistently taught as having higher or lesser degrees. Those who rejected the revelation of God's will under the Law will not be judged as severely as those who reject Christ, His Death, His Covenant, and the Spirit of Grace (the Comforter (Hebrews 10:26-29)).

Romans 2:6
Who will render to every man according to his deeds:


God bless.

 

Because the answer, if you are honest about it, denies Pre-Pentecost Regeneration.

Here's another question to ignore: who was in Christ prior to Pentecost?


God bless.

 

LOL no it doesn't.