MAN IS NOT SAVED/BORN AGAIN IN THIS LIFE.  Read Hope and Salvation and Born Again.  Key words–Hope and Born respectively.  Between repentance/justification and death lies decades in which the saint faces a steady stream of Satanic temptation attacks which God calls “fiery darts.”  How the saint reacts to the ups, downs, sunshine, rain, rivers to cross and mountains to climb of life will separate those who will receive eternal life upon the return of Jesus and those who will not (Mat. 10:22).  Repentance is the starting point on the journey from the “putting off of the old man” and the “putting on of the new man” until death.  Repentance involves a reversal of life’s direction from following the will of Satan to following the will of God.  Whether one is welcomed into the Kingdom of God at Christ’s return depends on whose will the church person follows.  Satan’s will is expressed in church doctrine while God’s will is expressed in His Holy Scriptures–His Law.

In the previous posting we examined the act of repentance–true, godly sorrow for a sin committed.  True repentance that follows godly sorrow precedes justification (forgiveness of all of one’s past sins) and causes the true repenter to do an “about face” which points him in the opposite direction from the way he was going.  Now the penitent is facing God, seeing Him and His will in His Word, learning His Word so that he can “make His (God’s) paths straight” (Mat. 3:3).  Each of us has a singular path to the Almighty.  Each must locate and define that path through Bible study.  Once the path is determined the salvation seeker must “walk” that path as Christ walked it (2 Jn. 2:6), which means thinking godly thoughts, speaking godly words and doing godly deeds.  This can be done only by following the “voice” of the Holy Spirit which lives within the believer.  Romans 8:14 states plainly that: “They who are led by the Spirit of God, (only) they are the sons of God.”  God’s “voice,” “spoken” by the Holy Spirit, leads us to obey His (God’s) Word–His Holy Bible by which we will all be judged (Jn. 12:48).  We are commanded to “… live by every Word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mat. 4:4).  Those who do so are true sons of God.  All others are also sons of god–the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4).

The path that takes us straight to God is the Word of God–the Law of God–the only path that will take us to where He is on the spiritual level.  Those who have “nailed the Law to the cross” have eliminated the only path leading to Him so as to walk with Him in agreement with Him.  “Can two walk together unless they agree?” (Amos 3:3).  We prove that we agree with God by OBEYING His Word/Law, not by owning it.  The Lord says: “Come, let us reason together” (Isa. 1:18).  The true saint knows that he must agree with and obey God’s reasonings in order to receive what He promises.  Which brings us to the second step in the salvation process–the “walk” that must undertaken following conversion.  As the Scriptures proclaim, TRUE CONVERSION RESULTS IN A HOLY WALK WITH CHRIST, AS CHRIST WALKED, UNTIL DEATH (AMOS 3:3/1 JN. 2:6/MAT. 10:22).

True conversion entails “walking as Jesus walked”–how He lived His life as a man (1 Jn. 2:6).  Jesus tells us exactly how to do this.  He explained that He said only what he heard His Father say and did only what He saw His Father do.  He also said: “I can of My own self (power) do nothing.”  “What I see My Father do, that I do.”  “The words I speak are not Mine, but His Who sent Me.”  Jesus was totally dependent on the Father.  He was led solely by the Holy Spirit.  This was possible only through the power of the Holy Spirit living within Him.  The same holds true for the saint.

While Jesus was on earth with the disciples, they preached, healed the sick and cast out demons by the Holy Spirit empowering them from OUTSIDE.  Knowing that upon His death and return to heaven, the Holy Spirit would accompany Him.  After returning to earth for a brief teaching session, He told the disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait for “the promise”–the gift of the Holy Spirit (the power of God).  They were not to engage in any work for Him until they received the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-8).  The promised baptism of fire and Spirit (Mat. 3:11) took place on the Day of Pentecost a short time later.

True repentance necessitates a total change from walking in one direction to walking in the exact opposite direction.  Not so, says Satan who has “… deceived the whole world” (Rev. 12:9).  One of his most effective deceptions has been to convince the church that conversion and salvation are one and the same, and in that one is already “saved,” one does need not obey  God’s Word/Law, even if he could, which, thanks to Adam, he cannot.  The second part of that deception holds that churchites’ rejection of God’s Word (to break His Law) does not prevent one from inheriting eternal life.

Another deception involving the “saved one” concerns being sealed with an unbreakable seal.  As I prove in The Sealing of God’s Elect (key word–Sealing), the seal can be broken by the one who is sealed.  Satan cannot break it.  God will not break it.  But the sealed one can break it.  Until the instant of death, man has the freedom of choice.  Adam and Eve were as sealed as anyone can be.  They were without sin, living in a paradise into which the Lord came each evening to talk with them.  The world was theirs along with everything on in, under it, in the water and in the air over it.  Adam and Eve had total dominion over the earth and what it contained.  When they ate of the forbidden tree THEY–NOT GOD, NOT SATAN–BROKE THEIR SEALS.  Recall that the Serpent (Satan–see Rev. 20:2) told Eve that she could eat the forbidden fruit and  “You shall not surely die” (Rev. 3:3).  According the the Serpent, Adam and Eve’s reward for defying God–breaking their seals–would be eternal life in paradise.  That theology is put forth as God’s truth in the Institutional Church today.

True conversion turns one around, making him face the opposite direction to his pre-conversion moral status.  But THEN WHAT?  God tells us that THEN WHAT involves walking the Christ-like life of holiness and righteousness, the end result of which is eternal life (Rom. 5;21 and 6:22).  Note that eternal life is not the result of taking Jesus as one’s Savior, joining the church, being baptized, reading the Bible, attending church services, smiling, preaching, witnessing, helping people following “natural disasters,” tithing, etc.  ETERNAL LIFE IS THE REWARD FOR WALKING IN HOLINESS AND RIGHTEOUSNESS (Rom. 5:21; 6:22).  The Holy Bible tells us how to attain holiness and righteousness and remain in that spiritual state until the end of life.  The Apostle John characterizes the post-conversion life of the true saint in his first letter to the church where he writes that if we call ourselves God’s people we must “walk as He (Christ) walked (1 Jn. 2:6).  Jesus Christ is our template that we must emulate.  All who tell you otherwise are false prophets.  L.J.