Featured "Personal Savior"

I think it is OK to use that terminology. But I'm sure someone won't like it.

 

He died for ME!... And he died for YOU!... And ALL his Father gave him he died for... So me and you and the rest can have eternal life... A numberless multitude no man can number... Now how personal do you want me to get?... Did the thief on the cross have a personal relationship with Christ?... He was saved not because he had a personal relationship with Christ but because he had a Savior, who died for him also... Which makes it personal!... Brother Glen

 

I would say, "You can't be saved without Jesus calling you and making you personally alive with Him. (Ephesians 2:4-6; Galatians 2:20)

 

Well roby I'm not going to rain on your parade, you find comfort in that fine, I was saved by The Holy Spirit alone!... Brother Glen

1 John 4: 7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

 

That passage has to do with the church to which it is written.

it is not a passage about personal salvation but how that particular church had basically rejected Christ and locked Him out of their assembly.

again, it is not an invitation to salvation but about a church that had locked out their Saviour

 

And I agree, I have no qualms about someone understanding Christ as their personal Savior


But that’s me

 

Since scripture refers to Christ as our savior, or my savior, a personal relationship is required.

 

The term is not in the Bible and therefore I would be cautious in using it, but the Philippian jailor was told, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.' That is an personal exhortation made to an individual to believe in Christ, therefore there can't be a problem in using the term. Perhaps its use is a reaction against Roman catholicism and High Church Anglicanism where vows are made by 'godparents' on behalf of an infant at baptism and that child is then said to be regenerate.

I love to sing Charles Wesley's hymn:

'Died He for me who caused His pain?
For me who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God, shoulds't die for me?

If that is not belief in a personal saviour, I don't know what is.

 

John 17:3, ". . . And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. . . ." Isaiah 43:11. Acts of the Apostles 4:12, ". . . the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth . . . Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. . . ."

 

Read Revelation 3:20. It's only the believers in the church for whom he stands at the door and knocks.
*Revelation 3:19-22*
Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
For those who are dead in their trespasses and sins, God says this:
*Ephesians 2:4-5*
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
So, yeah, God does more than kick it in. God goes in, picks up your dead carcass and makes you alive. This is why it's called... regeneration and quickening.

"You can't be saved without Jesus calling you and making you personally alive with Him. (Ephesians 2:4-6; Galatians 2:20)

 

"Salvation is ready brought to your door; and the Savior stands, knocks and calls that you would open to him that he might bring it in to you. There remains nothing but your consent. All the difficulty now remaining is with your own heart. If you perish now, it must be wholly at your door. It must be because you would not come to Christ that you might have life:" Sect. XI "Exhortation to Come to Christ" Jonathan Edwards Page 156 vol. 2

If someone hears the knocking and answered the door they were quickened. If they don't hear the knocking they weren't. If they hear the knocking and don't open the door they probably were part of the "general call" but not the "effectual call". If they heard the call and opened the door and Jesus came in and now they think they deserve some merit for opening the door they have problems and need to talk to someone who understands that God is sovereign in salvation.

 

You cannot get that from Revelation 3:20. It matters not that you quote Jonathan Edwards.

 

The fact is Edwards did get that. What some of you guys do to theology is like what would happen if you gave a chemistry set to a monkey.

 

Context is important Dave.
Second, the Bible says we were slaves to sin. We were chained in a dungeon and enslaved. We weren't in some rural cottage and Jesus comes to door knock. No, we were locked up and enslaved when Jesus came storming into the dungeon and breaks in to save us.
In Revelation 3:20, Jesus is expressly addressing his children who had become lukewarm.

Dave, it is a terrible thing when we romanticize the desperate position we were in before Christ busted in to save us.

Just say no to the romantic image of Jesus knocking that you had on your parents wall.

 

This is astounding coming right after criticizing the use of this illustration by Jonathan Edwards. Have you ever heard of a sermon called "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"? My guess is he knew. And he still used the illustration.

 

Again, what is the context of Revelation 3:20?
Again, what is the condition of unregenerate man?
Dave, you are ignoring God's word and pointing toward a fallible man for your argument.
I am not stopping you from ignoring context.