Featured Believing in Christ and Calling Upon the Name of the Lord

We are Baptists.
Are we not believers in “already and not yet” with respect to divine truths like “saved”?

• I was saved before my great-grandfather’s great-grandfather was born by the finished work of the Son of God and His blood shed on the cross and His resurrection from the dead as the first fruits of a promise made for me. ALREADY SAVED.
• I am saved by the transformative work of the Holy Spirit within me … from that fist day before I even became aware of what was going on (As Ephesians 2:1-10 describes) and continuing on every day that I am sealed for the redemption. SAVED NOW.
• I am to be redeemed. I am part of His bride. I have a promise of future glory yet to be realized when I shall be fully saved … corruptible made incorruptible … glorified in His Eternal Presence to glorify Him who has created and redeemed me. FUTURE SAVED.

 

It is Christ who saves in the first place. It is He who has lived the life of perfect righteousness and obedience that we cannot live, and who has suffered on our behalf the death, curse and punishment due to us for our sins.
Without that, all the faith in the world will not save us.

 

Your teaching a false theology that you were saved before you were born. If one does not trust in the Son they are not saved. But as you hold to calvinism I can understand where the wheels have come of your wagon. You follow a man-made theology.

 

Our faith does not save us. By the grace of God we are saved because we have faith in / trust in His son.

 

Since I have been here and brethren I have been here along time... I have observed that more have faith in their faith, than they have in Christ Jesus... To Martin I say... AMEN & AMEN... Brother Glen

 

Calvinism thinks only the "elect" are saved and that was done before creation. That is just one on the errors in that theology.

 

One is saved because of their faith not by their faith.

 

So you are saying that I was not chosen in Him before the foundation of the world? That I was not predestined to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved? That in my case, it was NOT finished?

How very sad.
You are an anti-Barnabas (the Son of Discouragment).

 

So sad that you have fallen for that false theology. You really need to study those verses in context and stop cherry picking ones you hope will support your view.

I have to agree with you on one point, it is very sad that you fail to understand the bible text.

 

Why does it have to have anything to do with Calvinism? People seem to be obsessed with Calvinism and Arminianism. It would help us all to focus on Christ.

 

One is saved because of Christ and by the grace of God. Titus 3:3-7

 

Martin one is saved because of their faith in Christ by the grace of God.
Joh 3:18 "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

With out FAITH in the Son no one would be saved. Why do you struggle so much with the idea that a person must trust in Christ before they are saved.

 

No we are not.

My friend, God's word does not tell anyone, anywhere, how to be born again.
Please read the book of John again, start to finish, carefully.

Here's what I see:

In chapter 3, the Lord Jesus is telling Nicodemus what must happen for a person to see the kingdom of God...
He is even telling him other things that must occur ( belief on Him ) and that those that do believe, have ( John 3:36 ), not "will have", everlasting life;
But He also tells Nicodemus that the Spirit works where He will ( John 3:8 )...

That is the key.

Back in chapter 1, we find that those that have received Him are those who were born of God...what's more, they were not born of God by blood ( inheritance ), nor of their own will, and not of the will of others ( John 1:11-13 ). In other words, the reason they received Him, was that they were born of God.

In chapter 3, the Lord Jesus is not contradicting this.
He is stating why God gave His Son, and what will happen for those that believe.

Therefore, if you've believed on Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, it's because you already have that life, which is to know God and His Son ( John 17:3 ).
The question to answer ( for anyone here ) is this:

"Have I been born again from above?"

The evidence of that is the unreserved belief of His every word ( John 8:47, all of them, see Matthew 4:4, Luke 4:4 ) and the sincere desire to obey Him.
If this is true of you, then thank God for His great kindness and mercy towards you through Jesus Christ!



Also, to call upon the name of the Lord is to pray to Him, from the heart, and to thank Him for the things that we have received from Him ( like that afore-mentioned grace and mercy ), and to ask Him for the things that we need in this life.


May God bless you in your studies.

 

In every case the believing precedes when the Spirit does the new birth. But doesn't precede the sanctification in the Spirit. See 2 Thessalonians 2:13.

 

Focus on this!... Brother Glen

2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

 

Dave your comment "My friend, God's word does not tell anyone, anywhere, how to be born again." is to be blunt a lie and you should know this.
Ephesians 1:13 " In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,"
Rom 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Rom 10:10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Are these verses not in your bible or do you just ignore them.

Joh 3:36 He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
Notice the contrast those that believe are born again those that do not are lost. And those that believe do so because they have heard and trusted the gospel message, you know the one we were told to preach.
Mar_16:15 And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

We are told how to be born again, trust in the Son of God.

 

Please try not to be silly, I scarcely ever preach without telling my hearers to repent and trust in Christ. I could ask you with no greater silliness, why do you struggle so much with the idea that Christ had to come, to suffer and to die in order to save us? But of course I know perfectly well that you don't struggle with it at all.

It really is time to end this sterile ping-pong of gratuitous insults. To the extent that I have been involved with it, I hereby repent and will do so no more.

The 'Five Solas' of the Reformation are:
Christ alone.
Grace alone
Faith alone
According to the Scriptures alone
To the glory of God alone.

Christ comes first because unless He came to earth, lived a totally righteous life, suffered and died for our sins on the cross, rose from the dead, ascended and is coming again in glory, God has not been gracious, our faith is futile (1 Corinthians 15:17), the Scriptures are untrue and God has no glory.