I don't want you to miss this!!

Jim62

You began your thread by saying you were saved by asking Jesus into your heart.

That appears to put the emphasis on what you did, and not what Jesus did. As if you effected your own salvation. That is no small thing, no insignificant part of a story.

It may be that you believe you saved yourself by saying the prayer, or it may be a poor choice of words. I think it is a legitimate question to be addressed.

I don't mean to be overly harsh, but as a Christian of 25 years, you should be able to give a testimony that exhaults Christ for His death, or praises God the Father for His mercy, or acknowldges God the Holy Spirit for His calling and cleansing, or something of all three. A testimony should never emphasize what you did, but abundant praise for what God did and how you were changed by that, and how you are living as a result.

Please forgive me if I appear to be too blunt.

 

People being as they are described as unsaved men (none righteous, none that understandeth, none that seeketh after God, all gone out of the way, unprofitable, none that doeth good, no, not one, their throat is an open sepulchre, they have used deceit, the poison of asps is under their lips, mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their ways, the way of peace have they not known, no fear of God before their eyes, when they see Jesus there is no beauty that we should desire Him, Jesus is despised and rejected of men - Isa 53:2-3; Rom 3:10-18) doesn’t lend to the notion that salvation is contingent on man doing meritorious actions toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Instead of man doing, Ye must be born again. Salvation is of the Lord.

 

Our deadness in trespasses and sins made us insensible of separation from the life of God.

Ephesians 2:1 (KJV) And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

Quote:

Ephesians, Geoffrey B. Wilson, Minister Of Birkby Baptist Church Huddersfield, © Geoffrey B. Wilson First Published 1978 ISBN 0 85151 263 1

when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins, ‘Trespasses and sins’ are two plurals which vividly recall the multiplied aggravation of their guilt before God. [1] Being dead while they lived, their activity was then the activity of death [vv 2,3]. This deadness made them insensible of their separation from the life of God [4.18] and of his just condemnation of their wayward walk [v 3], even as it also left them without either the ability or the inclination to arise from the tomb [v 5]. Thus they were destitute of all spiritual life, ‘having no hope,’ because they were ‘without God in the world’ [vv 11, 12].

[1] But if the terms are not used synonymously, then ‘trespasses’ would indicate the deliberate transgression of the law, while ‘sins’ would point to the ‘missing of the mark’ set for them by God.

End quote.

 

Quote:

Ephesians, Geoffrey B. Wilson, Minister Of Birkby Baptist Church Huddersfield, © Geoffrey B. Wilson First Published 1978 ISBN 0 85151 263 1

And you did he make alive, An emphatic address which says in effect: ‘You were the unworthy objects of distinguishing mercy!’ But as Paul actually makes no reference to God's quickening grace until he has first made clear their abject plight by nature [vv 1-3] . . . It is vital to grasp the significance of the apostle's method [cf Rom ch. 1-3], because an inadequate doctrine of sin always leads to slight views of grace and also leaves ajar the door that admits error. ‘“Never was there a heresy, but it had something to do with an insufficient estimate of sin.” And an insufficient estimate of the “thing which God hateth” is not only the parent of speculative error; it is the secret death of true spiritual joy’ (Moule, Ephesian Studies, p. 70).

End quote.

 

do you have a website for this info above?

it seems to be a good biblical lesson

 

The Geoffrey B. Wilson commentaries are not Online, at least that I have seen. My copies are paperback, published by Banner of Truth Trust, and purchased by me long enough ago that one has a price sticker, $1.95. I don't think they make them like that any more

I think the books are still available, but I'm not sure. Perhaps Amazon, or http://www.christianbook.com/ will have them. There is a series by G. B. Wilson that deals with various New Testament books.

 

On the www.ChristianBook.com site, a search using < Geoffrey B. Wilson > shows some of the series are available.