by zake
joi, 9 iunie 2011
FORBIDDEN SCRIPTURES #2
Here is test #2: Read the verses below, then try to remember the last time you heard a sermon taken from this text. Probably you never have. That is because these verses are among those which contradict the beliefs of most people. Because of this most preachers have never preached on these verses. Probably they have never dealt with them except to try to explain them away, assuring their hearers that they do not really mean what they say. Think of it! Modern professing Christians who refuse to believe all that the Bible teaches while claiming to believe that the Bible is God’s Word! So, take the test. Read these verses and decide if you and your preacher and your church really do believe all that the Bible says. Perhaps you will decide that some changes need to be made – not in the Bible – but in your thinking and understanding. Here is another of the “Forbidden Scriptures.”
“But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” (John 10:26-29)
Jesus says that His Father gave Him some people whom He calls sheep. Thus He divides mankind: some are “sheep” and some are not. Some people have been given to Christ by the Father and some have not. Those who are not sheep do not follow Christ. But the sheep do hear the voice of Jesus and theydo follow Him and He gives them eternal life. These shall never perish!Now either they follow Christ or they do not! Jesus said they do! But today most “evangelical Christians” do not believe this. They believe in something they call “carnal Christians.” Most of Christendom in America says that if you will pray a prayer “asking Jesus into your heart” (or some such unscriptural idea) then you are saved. They take Paul’s words in 1st Corinthians 3 completely out of context and have promoted the idea that you can be truly saved and still live like the world. They say that Christians can dope, be drunken, dress immodestly, curse and tell dirty jokes, live immoral lives and otherwise live just as they did before they prayed the magical sinner’s prayer. They say such people are just “carnal Christians.” But Jesus said His sheep follow Him! Hebrews 12:14 says, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”Remember this verse: it says that without holiness no man shall see the Lord! If you claim to have been saved and your life has not radically changed, you did not experience the broken heartedness that brings about a lifetime of true repentance (turning from) sin and which results in salvation. Paul wrote: “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10)
Do not think you are saved because you once prayed a prayer asking for salvation. The Bible says, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Corinthians 13:5) Does the Bible really teach that a person can have Jesus Christ in them and still live like the enemies of Christ? Does not the Bible say that “If any man be in Christ he is a new creature?”(2 Corinthians 5:17) Many who are still “reprobates” think themselves to be children of God because they prayed a prayer one time and someone told them they were saved because they prayed. Do not be deceived! “Examine yourselves.”
Neither you nor I nor anyone is saved because they “did something.” Salvation is by grace alone, “Not of works lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians. 2:9) If you are saved it is because you are one of Christ’s sheep and He died for you. Jesus said in John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” And again in John 10:15 He said, “…I lay down my life for the sheep.” The Bible does not say that Christ died for thosewho are not His sheep. You have no right to presume that Christ died for you and that you are saved if you are not a spiritual sheep. And the evidence that you are a “sheep” is that you hear Christ’s voice and you follow Him.Are you really saved? “Examine yourselves!”Remember: “Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:3, 5)
Here is test #2: Read the verses below, then try to remember the last time you heard a sermon taken from this text. Probably you never have. That is because these verses are among those which contradict the beliefs of most people. Because of this most preachers have never preached on these verses. Probably they have never dealt with them except to try to explain them away, assuring their hearers that they do not really mean what they say. Think of it! Modern professing Christians who refuse to believe all that the Bible teaches while claiming to believe that the Bible is God’s Word! So, take the test. Read these verses and decide if you and your preacher and your church really do believe all that the Bible says. Perhaps you will decide that some changes need to be made – not in the Bible – but in your thinking and understanding. Here is another of the “Forbidden Scriptures.”
“But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” (John 10:26-29)
Jesus says that His Father gave Him some people whom He calls sheep. Thus He divides mankind: some are “sheep” and some are not. Some people have been given to Christ by the Father and some have not. Those who are not sheep do not follow Christ. But the sheep do hear the voice of Jesus and theydo follow Him and He gives them eternal life. These shall never perish!Now either they follow Christ or they do not! Jesus said they do! But today most “evangelical Christians” do not believe this. They believe in something they call “carnal Christians.” Most of Christendom in America says that if you will pray a prayer “asking Jesus into your heart” (or some such unscriptural idea) then you are saved. They take Paul’s words in 1st Corinthians 3 completely out of context and have promoted the idea that you can be truly saved and still live like the world. They say that Christians can dope, be drunken, dress immodestly, curse and tell dirty jokes, live immoral lives and otherwise live just as they did before they prayed the magical sinner’s prayer. They say such people are just “carnal Christians.” But Jesus said His sheep follow Him! Hebrews 12:14 says, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”Remember this verse: it says that without holiness no man shall see the Lord! If you claim to have been saved and your life has not radically changed, you did not experience the broken heartedness that brings about a lifetime of true repentance (turning from) sin and which results in salvation. Paul wrote: “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10)
Do not think you are saved because you once prayed a prayer asking for salvation. The Bible says, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Corinthians 13:5) Does the Bible really teach that a person can have Jesus Christ in them and still live like the enemies of Christ? Does not the Bible say that “If any man be in Christ he is a new creature?”(2 Corinthians 5:17) Many who are still “reprobates” think themselves to be children of God because they prayed a prayer one time and someone told them they were saved because they prayed. Do not be deceived! “Examine yourselves.”
Neither you nor I nor anyone is saved because they “did something.” Salvation is by grace alone, “Not of works lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians. 2:9) If you are saved it is because you are one of Christ’s sheep and He died for you. Jesus said in John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” And again in John 10:15 He said, “…I lay down my life for the sheep.” The Bible does not say that Christ died for thosewho are not His sheep. You have no right to presume that Christ died for you and that you are saved if you are not a spiritual sheep. And the evidence that you are a “sheep” is that you hear Christ’s voice and you follow Him.Are you really saved? “Examine yourselves!”Remember: “Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:3, 5)
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