No, it is not moot what I say.
Yes it is. John 14:23 is addressed to his disciples--saved individuals; not to the unsaved. It is not speaking of salvation. Those that are unsaved cannot love Christ. It is not speaking about the unsaved.
Jesus says those who obey him are the ones who love him, and the Father and he will make their homes with the ones who love him. You, on the other hand teach that we can do nothing that Jesus says, not even feel sorry for our sins. In fact, you say to say you obey Jesus before one is saved is heresy.
The unsaved don't obey Jesus. They run to Jesus as a thief runs to a police station. "Jesus came to his own but his own received him not" (John 1:11).
For you to say that the unsaved just come out and start obeying Jesus is ludicrous. The Bible teaches otherwise. They are wicked, perverse; there is none that doeth good, no not one. There is none that seeks after God. There is none righteous, no not one.
When we consider the unsaved in the light of those Scriptures we see that they do not seek after or obey Christ.
Salvation and being saved is the same thing. John 14:23 is about receiving the Holy Spirit. If you do not have the Holy Spirit, then you do not have salvation on this earth. If ANYONE, and WHOEVER gets Jesus’ teachings and obeys, they will receive the Holy Spirit.
Why do you keep ignoring context. The Holy Spirit had not been sent yet. They had to wait until the Day of Pentecost. That is not so now. When one puts their faith in Christ the
immediately receive the Holy Spirit (no obedience required) for it is an instantaneous act. You receive Christ and you are indwelt by the Spirit. They happen at the same time. There is no obedience (or works) in between. If you say there is you believe in a works salvation which is heresy.
Jesus said this to his Apostles too; he said the one who does not obey him does not love him. Now, answer me, was Jesus speaking to the saved? Of course he was! Was Jesus also speaking about the UNSAVED? Of course he was!
He was in the upper room. The verse you are speaking of is John 14:23. It was in chapter 13 that Judas Iscariot had left to betray Jesus. Only Jesus and his eleven loyal followers were left. Which one of these 12 were unsaved, Moriah? Was it Jesus? Was Jesus not saved? Was it Peter? John? James? Who was the person not saved?
Was Jesus speaking about the UNSAVED? NO! he was not. There were no unsaved people in that upper room that he could have been speaking to.
That is beyond neglectful for you to say John 14:23 is not gospel. What blasphemy to say such a thing.
s•pel/ˈgäspəl/
Noun:
1. The teaching or revelation of Christ.
2. A thing that is absolutely true.
You didn't get this from the Bible? It must be from a secular English dictionary which knows nothing of the Bible. The above is not the definition of the "gospel." From the above definitions it appears you don't know what the gospel is either. That is truly sad.
There is no gospel in John 14:23.
You will find the gospel spelled out for you very clearly in 1Cor.15:1-4.
It is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. You really ought to know that by now.
You have no understanding. For you to say an unsaved person cannot read the Bible, get faith, and do what it says, and then be saved, is a lie.
The lie is all yours. Do you understand the true meaning of this verse:
Jeremiah 13:23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?
then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.
If you don't, you should understand this one:
1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned.
You have no sight. Jesus did not ONLY COMMAND that they should go to Jerusalem and wait! Jesus said if you get my teachings and obey them! Jesus did NOT just teach them to go to Jerusalem and wait!
The fact is that Jesus taught THEM those things and not US.
They were to go to Jerusalem and wait, and not US. The command was given to them, not us.
Trust Christ as Savior to what? You see, trusting Jesus is obeying. Trusting Jesus is to do what he says. To trust Jesus is not mere words without any action. What do you trust Jesus with when you hear the gospel? Are you just relying on the words I trust Jesus? To trust Jesus means you believe him when he says he will give you the Holy Spirit when you get his teachings and obey them.
17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
If trusting is obeying then you have a religion of works and that is not Christianity. It is heresy. Learn what faith is.
To trust Jesus means you believe him when he says he will give you the Holy Spirit, period, full stop. You added "wen you get his teachings and obey them. That is the definition of a works salvation. First we hear the message, understand it, and then based upon what we have heard accept it by faith. Faith is passive not active in the sense that faith is not a work. It is not something that is done. It is not an intellectual exercise.
Faith without action is dead.
James 2:17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
Those verses are directed to Christians not the unsaved. It describes OUR faith, telling us that our faith ought to be showing fruit. Some Christian's faith show more fruit than others. God did not set you up as the judge. You may not be able to see the fruit of the faith of some Christians. But God knows what it is.
Did you hear what Paul said? Paul said faith expressing itself through love…remember what Jesus said in John 14:23? He said those who obey me are the ones he love me. Now, read again what Paul says, he says THE ONLY THING THAT COUNTS IS FAITH EXPRESSING ITSELF THROUGH LOVE.
No, that is not the only thing that counts. One important thing that counts is "rightly dividing the word of truth."
Look at the passage:
Galatians 5:5-6 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
Notice all three are mentioned: hope, faith and love.
--The hope of our righteousness comes BY love.
--Likewise faith "working by" love.
This is in opposition to the Judaizers that had infiltrated the regions of Galatia with their poisonous teaching of legalism. The new creature in Christ lived by faith, a faith born out of love and not of works. The verse actually works against you.
It is dead faith that you teach. You teach a do nothing faith, and that faith is never called saving faith, it is called dead faith.
I have never called faith dead. Your accusation is false.
You do not even understand the implications of what you teach. I have exposed your false beliefs. Of course, you want to say I am lying, that is what people say who do not give up their false beliefs.
Moriah, you teach salvation is by works. You are the one with the false beliefs. And then you attribute to me things that I never said. That is slander and a lie. You said:
" You see, trusting Jesus is obeying. "
--Slandering and lying is not trusting or obeying. It is disobedience. So, do you really trust Jesus?
An unsaved person can CHOOSE to obey Jesus’ teachings, and then they will be saved. How else do you think the unsaved are saved? You just do not know how preposterous you sound.
Not according to the Bible:
1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned.
The unsaved are saved because:
First they must hear the Word of God through the preaching of the Word of God. And,
Second, the Holy Spirit must work in their hearts using that Word to convict them and bring them to Christ.
Third, they cannot do it on their own.
You do NOT even know if you are saved unless you examine yourself to see if you have been obeying!
I have the full assurance (without any examination), that if I should die right now I would go straight to heaven.
Do you not understand what that means? If you examine yourself and note that you have done nothing that Jesus says to do, except believe, do you think that that type of believing has saved you? NO.
Yes, My salvation is based on the work of Jesus; not on my work.
When you stand before Jesus do you think that he is going to accept your work, and that your works will get you into heaven. He will shut the door on you. You will have insulted him, for you will have told him that his work on the cross was not good enough for you.