How to be saved and go to Heaven

[Doug Brents]

Lol. It's righteous to say "No, Lord, I'm not going to do what you say" when the Lord tells you to do something?

You're gonna double down on that?

So, you would not contend that the one acceptable answer is "Yes, Lord. You are in control. I will do what you say."?

No, I would contend that Peter was righteous in his response, but God then told him that He was changing the rules; the unclean of the Law of Moses was no longer unclean, but was now clean and acceptable (both food and Gentiles). This is the same as King Ahab did in 1 Kings 22. The prophets were all telling him to go up to battle and he would win, but he sought a second opinion. The true message from God was that he would die, but the other prophets from God had a deceiving message from an Angel of God. Peter was on the watch for deceiving spirits, and rejected the message until he realized it was truly from God.

Thanks for clarifying. That's what I thought you meant... a saved person becomes lost when he sins, then gets his sins forgiven after repenting and returning again to walking in the light. Since that is what you believe, how many times can a person sin, repent, and be saved again? Is seventy times seven the lifetime limit?

There is no limit. Seventy times seven is a euphemism for unending. As often as a person comes back in repentance, God is waiting there to forgive (Luke 17:3-4).

So, you're saying that over time, as we train our flesh to be good, we sin and lose our salvation less frequently and we gain back our salvation through repentance more quickly? I heard a famous preacher from Texas say in a sermon that he had gone as long as 3 days in a row without sinning once. Let's assume his clame was right. Would you say that he needs to beat his flesh some more to stretch out the number of days that his salvation lasts to several weeks or months or years instead of just 3 days?

I do not believe that we lose our salvation when we stumble and immediately come right back into the light. If I gave that impression, then I apologize for the confusion. When we are continually trying to walk in the Light and our focus is still on God (even when we stumble), we are still covered in God's forgiveness. It is when we take our eyes off of God and turn to a focus on sin that we lose our salvation, but there is still hope of return if we return to repentance.

As for the minister from Texas, I would say that he has done very well to go three days in a row without sin. But is is it possible that he had pride in himself over that fact? And if so, then did he really go 3 days without sin? Was he not sinning in his pride over his ability to go without (other) sin? The flesh is so terribly wicked, and as long as our spirit remains in our flesh we will constantly be bombarded by temptations and opportunities to sin, even without our knowledge.

I don't know exactly what you're saying. The idea of training our spirits to be in tune with His Spirit is not a scriptural concept. On the contrary, gaining new life in Christ gives us new spirits that are rightly aligned with Him in every way. Our new spirits are rightly aligned with Him by virtue of the fact that they were created when He gave birth to us by His Spirit, meaning we are His offspring. But I do agree that we walk in lock step with His Spirit more effectively as we learn through use to train our spiritual senses to discern good and evil.

Why does an athlete train? To gain strength in his sport. Paul compares the Christian life to sport. We train to gain strenght so we can run the race set before us so as to win. Yes, our spirit is reborn righteous and pure, and aligned with God in every way. But it is reborn as a weak, infant spirit in Christ, and it must be strengthened and grow roots in the faith and in the Word so that it cannot be pulled out by any storm. That is what I mean by training our spirit to be in tune with the Spirit.

 

[fhansen]

Believe on Jesus Christ(who is God and Lord). Believe(accept it is true) that Jesus Christ alone will save you(save means eternal life in Heaven). Have faith and trust(rely on/depend) in Jesus alone to save you. You can also be saved if you believe and trust that Jesus(Lord and God) died for our sins, was buried and rose again the third day according to the scriptures for the justification(to make right/forgive)of all your sins and your salvation(you being saved).

Notes
-Hebrews 11:1 says (now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see).
-You repent when you believe on Jesus Christ.
-OSAS, you are given something eternal.
-Not of works as your efforts are not enough.

Bible verses supporting my statement:

-Regarding believe on Jesus, John 3:16 says (For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life).

-You should have faith in Lord Jesus to save you because you are saved through faith.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says (8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast).

-You should trust Lord Jesus to save you because trust is used interchangeably with believe in the bible.
In Ephesians 1:12-13 (12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise).

-You should believe Jesus died for our sins, was buried and rose again the third day because the gospel that saves says to believe this. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures).

To believe in Jesus is to believe in God, and this is to remove oneself from the state of alienation from Him that we’re all born into. This translates us from a state of injustice to a state of justice as all humans are made for communion with God and are hopelessly lost, dead, disordered when apart from Him. Adam separated humanity from God while Christ reconciled us with Him and that reconciliation is the foundation of our salvation. It’s that simple.