Cancer, Ebola, Pneumonia, War, Car Accidents, Heart Attacks, Shootings, Drug Overdose, out of whack medication and severe depression can all kill people. One is not a more blessed way to die, they all end up the same, in the grave. Death is the result of sin, originally. Still is.
When those things happen, how the person who died stood at that second, (as a bomb goes off in Jerusalem and people are killed instantly) where that person was in relation to Christ matters.. positionally. Their sin state at that second or not makes no matter at all. Jesus paid it all.. past present future or he didn't pay it at all.
What if a person lies, doesn't repent and the bomb goes off... Heaven or hell? Even if they had devoted their lives as a Christian but slipped up and then died in an instant would not God credit them of the Blood of Jesus? Anger can cause people to sin in a moment. Hanging them over the mouth of hell for that moment is not God. Profound depression can cause people to sin for a moment, sometimes it ends up terminal..
NOW here's the question? If a person IS a Christian, A believer, has tried but failed (as we all have) but sins and it cost his or her life.. a car accident (texting and driving), ate too much fat meat and died of a heart attack, stood up to the wrong guy and got shot... they are just as dead.
I can't and won't judge a person's place in the spectrum of the Grace of God. It's bigger than I might admit and maybe bigger than I would administer as a human. I know it's sufficient. It's enough. AND I think if we understood His grace, his father's heart towards us we might not be so ready to kick people into hell. But who am I... just your humble prophet.
3 comments:
I do enjoy your posts sir. but past present and future. sins paid for is not in the new testament. if it where Hebrews would not warn of no more sacrifice for sin. The warnings of Jesus in Revelation would really mean nothing and the distinction john made about a sin plural not unto death and a sin plural unto death would mean nothing. along with the fact James said confess sin. These verses would all mean nothing. Do they mean nothing
I won't try to convince you but I will give you some seeds to help you grasp this. The passage you allude to is not James, but 1 John 1:9.
The Hebrews passage has much to do with rejection of the Gospel. The warnings of Revelation are not about eternal salvation or forgiveness but a removal of the authority and anointing people.
I will try to help you see.. yes the Bible (in the new testament particularly) DOES speak of forgivenss past present and future.
If you look at the 1 John passage it refers to people who say they have no sin. Deceived. Arrogant. Lacking Humility about their sinful state. Dependent upon their personal righteousness. Holier than thou. They are the ones who claim I'm forgiven and you're not.
This is a real problem. IF they remain in that posture they are rejecting the forgiveness already available, since they claim to be sinless.
Here's better than I can say what one Bible Commentator said (Gill) and I agree with his analysis:
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins: forgiveness of sin here intends not the act of forgiveness, as in God, proceeding upon the bloodshed and sacrifice of Christ, which is done at once, and includes all sin, past, present, and to come; but an application of pardoning grace to a poor sensible sinner, humbled under a sense of sin, and confessing it before the Lord; and confession of sin is not the cause or condition of pardon, nor of the manifestation of it, but is descriptive of the person, and points him out, to whom God will and does make known his forgiving love; for to whomsoever he grants repentance, he gives the remission of sin; in doing of which he is faithful to his word of promise; such as in Proverbs 28:13; "and just"; in being "true", as the Arabic version adds, to his word; and showing a proper regard to the blood and sacrifice of his Son; for his blood being shed, and hereby satisfaction made to the law and justice of God, it is a righteous thing in him to justify from sin, and forgive the sinner for whom Christ has shed his blood, and not impute it to him,
I will allow that to help you see that past present and forgiveness happens because we recognize our need for it. Our sin doesn't condemn us because we somehow fail to confess (ergo no future sin is paid for unless we do) but because we don't believe we have sinned at all... deceived.
How to Embrace God’s Forgiveness
by Joyce Meyer free on web
Do you serve God or your feelings?
Now, that may sound like an odd question for a believer, but really, it isn't. Let me put it this way... When you ask God to forgive you, do you accept His forgiveness right away or do you waste time feeling guilty?
So many Christians struggle with guilt and condemnation. They're trying to pay God back for what they did wrong when Jesus already made it right.
God's unconditional love is a very difficult concept for people to accept because, in the world, there's always payment for everything we receive. It's just how things work here. But God is not like people!
Aren't you glad about that?
We need to learn that whether or not we feel forgiven, we're forgiven.
The Power of Confession
Feelings of guilt and condemnation are a huge problem in the Church, but I want you to understand that’s what they are—feelings.
If you really know God's Word, no matter how you feel, you can speak scriptures over your life and pretty soon your feelings have lost their authority.
For instance, 1 John 1:9 says that if we repent and confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive us. You need to take hold of that.
The next time you ask God to forgive you and then feel guilty afterward, open your mouth and say, "God forgave me." Quote 1 John 1:9 or use another scripture but say it out loud. There is power in the tongue
She also has teaching warning against searing the conscience and against hardening ones heart.
Also since I have followed her ministry since it was life in the Word. I heard her long ago say this is serious and break into a prophetic Word that was extremely anointed warning that Jesus will spit you out and then go to speaking of him removing candlesticks.
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