One is the CAUSE, the other is the EFFECT.

Justified freely by the grace of God is the CAUSE;
Justified by your faith in Jesus Christ is an EFFECT.
These are two distinct justifications: 

I wonder why it is so hard for a student of God's word to accept that only someone whom God HAS JUSTIFIED FREELY is able to believe in order to be justified by his faith? Someone whom God has not justified by His grace is still in the state of condemnation and death, thus absolutely incapable of believing. An UNGODLY man justified by God's free grace is NOT THE SAME as a believer being justified by his faith...

They are distinct and separate acts.

One is the CAUSE, the other is the EFFECT.
Justified freely by the grace of God is the CAUSE;
Justified by faith in Jesus Christ is an EFFECT. 

Justification freely by God's grace is NOT the justification by our faith.

In the justification by God's free grace, there is the imputation of Christ's righteousness to your account (as in Rom 3:24, 8:30)

In the justification by your faith, there is the imputation of your faith to your account (like Gen 15:1-6 account)

The two are very distinct and different acts.

Why do so many confuse the EXPERIENTIAL justification by their faith as their LEGAL justification by God's grace through their faith?

Why the confusion? Is it because many cannot differentiate between SOUND and SENSE anymore?

But many, at least those who brand themselves after a Genevan, have enough sense to admit that they must have life first in order to believe, i.e. regeneration precedes faith.

However, stranger still, there are those calvinists (the Reformed Baptists) here in malaysia who insist that regeneration precedes faith, BUT ALSO that one must believe in order to have eternal life (all stated in black and white in a official theological paper issued in the names of 7 churches!) They say that regeneration gives the ability! It gets more bizarre, implying that there can be ability WITHOUT life.

How can't they see the same truth that the removal of condemnation of death and bestowal of righteousness of life in justification by God's free grace MUST PRECEDE the activity of believing?

At least the Old Baptists declared this: "The reason why any are justified IS NOT because they have faith; but the reason why they have faith IS because they are justified" - Circular Letter of the Philadelphia Baptist Association, dated October 4, 1785.

But a whole new generation has arisen that believes the EXACT opposite - all the modern calvinists and the reformed baptists, the whole world over!

It looks like the time spoken of by Apostle Paul is here:
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

'Fables' are FICTIONS. The condemned (unjustified by God) believes in order to be justified is a FICTION, and a deceiving lie.

Tom Sellier
What came first, the chicken or the egg? We know the chicken came first because God created the chicken with the ability to have baby chickens with the roosters help, of course, through the absolutely astounding process of a fertilized egg. Of all things. Nature has no such imagination. Keith you are right but I have a slightly different take on it. The reason is today's Christian has become a reader of christian books written by men instead of students of the Bible. I say put down the books and write your own.

Tom Sellier
And you know, Sing if you look at who Jesus said He came for, most of us can't articulate the mechanics of our salvation, but we KNOW we are saved. I just pray for the weaker that no one be able to talk them out of their salvation because that is the goal of the devil and his minions these last days.

Sing F Lau
Absolutely no one is able to talk them out of their ETERNAL salvation... not even Satan himself. Each one is as safe in the hand of Christ as ever.

But so many are already deprived of their TEMPORAL salvation... having been deceived that their justification before God is conditioned upon their faith! Where is assurance and comfort from such a belief, if a man is honest before God?

A justification by faith must necessarily be maintained by that same faith! And that is precarious at best!

A justification secured by faith shall logically, and justly, be forfeited by faithlessness. There would be unending uncertainty to maintain that state of justification. Is it faith of the right kind, is there enough faith, etc.. Where is assurance with such uncertainty!

But if justification, by God's free grace based on the solid foundation of Christ finished and perfect righteousness ALONE, is evidenced by faith, then the weakest faith in the Savior evidences that secured and completed and perfected state of justification by God's free grace based on the equally secure, complete and perfect righteousness of Christ.

Jason Sides
Sing while you and I am sure agree with many of the writings of John Gill, I would like to ask you whether you evangelize as many do not believe John Gill promoted it; in fact have labelled him a hyper calvinist.

Sing F Lau
Brother Jason, some of the greatest LIARS ever lived on earth would have to be those that accuse John Gill of not evangelizing. He most certainly did evangelize, maybe not their frivolous and men-centred 'finneyite' idea of evangelism.

Read these articles by George Ella to convince yourself that it was not for evangelism that they charged Gill with hyper-Calvinism.

http://evangelica.de/articles/biographies/john-gill-and-the-charge-of-hyper-calvinism/

http://evangelica.de/articles/biographies/john-gill-and-his-successors/

Take a look. Ella is a rare and objective theological historian!

And get hold of this book and read for yourself and find out the FACTS about John Gill.

I wrote this satire:
'It is like a Genevan who believes that milk and baby clothes are necessary for the conception of a child, calling a Chinese brother a ‘hyper-calvinist’ just because he believes that milk and baby clothes are necessary only for the growth and development of the child already delivered. How bizarre can the world get! It gets even more bizarre when a Genevan misrepresents the Chinese brother as saying, “milk and baby clothes are not needed at all for newborn babes.”

A smart aleck ‘standard reformed’ brother boldly retorted, ‘If justification is before faith, then there is no need of faith at all; then what need is there for preaching!’ It is like a man saying to his wife, ‘darling wifey, you said milk and baby clothes are not needed for the conception and the delivery of a child, then what need is there to shop for these things for our baby?’ The wifey rolled her eyes and said, ‘Get me the rolling pin, quick!
[pg 64 of 'A Pruning of Seven Deformed Branches']

Sing F Lau
Amen, Brother Keith. The principle of 'first thing first' will save many from deception and delusion... I went through it all. It took quite a long while to wean myself from ingrained errors. I went back to Scriptures, and unlearned lots of man-centred (i.e. deluded Arminianism, and twisted Calvinism) errors. I am only beginning to learn the Scriptures.

[Keith has deleted his comments!]

Jason Sides
Sing, can you send the above article/hyperlink as a message to me, as I would like to share it with some others.

Feeding has to do with the living.

Feeding has to do with the living.
Only the superstitious think they feed the dead. 

Only the superstitious believe it has to do with the dead too. 
(Many Chinese offer roast pigs to the dead on various occasions.)
Many preachers are no more enlightened than them! 😪

The Lord restored His Disciples to feed His sheep!

John 21...
O, the tender mercies of our Lord Jesus Christ in dealing with His disciples!
- The scattered apostles had returned to their secular work... it was a complete failure, "they caught nothing."
- The Lord came seeking for them... shook them with a stunning miracle... fed them with a big and wholesome breakfast...
- Then He restored them in an extraordinary way! Peter the ringleader, who had denied the Lord 3 times, was picked for the purpose... they were tenderly restored and recommissioned.

What was their commission? It is stated so plainly that even a child can understand. It is "FEED... FEED ... FEED" Christ's lambs and sheep. But so many preachers and their misguided followers are convinced that the commission is to help Christ make sheep through their preaching ministry; some even believe that it is helping Christ to turn goats into sheep through their preaching. But the commission is clear.

"FEEEEEEEEEEEED my sheep." Christ has sheep that need feeding. He has sought and saved those sheep himself; He has saved those whom the Father has given to Him through His OWN redemptive work, and the Holy Spirit has, FREELY and sovereignly, applied that salvation to each individual elect, without any man's assistance.

These sheep need to be FED; they need to be given the spiritual food - the good news of the mighty things that the Triune God has accomplished for them, and the glory awaiting them in Jesus Christ, and how they ought to live righteously, godly in their brief and fleeting life in the present world.

Whoever believes that FEEDING has to do with the dead is stupid, i.e. lacking common sense! There are many such preachers. The superstitious Chinese do offer roast pork to the dead; the misguided preachers do offer salvation to the dead in trespasses and sins.

Sonship is multifaceted in nature

 

#your_sonship_is_multifaceted

Sonship was decreed by God in eternity,

Sonship was secured legally by Christ's atoning death on the cross,

Sonship was made actual/vital by the Holy Spirit in regeneration,

Sonship is experienced/demonstrated/attested by faith in Jesus Christ, and

Sonship shall be gloriously consummated at the resurrection to eternal glory.

Even so, your justification.

#your_justification_is_multifaceted

2Timothy 2:15

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Blessed are you if you know the multifaceted truth.

 A workman that knows not needs to be ashamed.

A biblical distinction is the essence of sound theology.

Midgets calling a Giant names... how impudent!

 

#DrJohnGill

Midgets calling a Giant names... how impudent!  

Charles H. Spurgeon greatly admired his predecessor John Gill, a man highly respected by his Calvinistic contemporaries of other denominations... and considered the EPITOME of 'calvinism' [old school calvinism, of course].  And yet today, men who are theological midgets compared to Gill would slandered him as "hyper-calvinist."  What has gone wrong?

Midgets calling a true giant names! 

========

"Charles Haddon Spurgeon is glowing in his praise of Gill. Of his ordination, Spurgeon says, ‘Little did the friends dream what sort of man they had thus chosen to be their teacher; but had they known it, they would have rejoiced that a man of such vast erudition, such indefatigable industry, such sound judgement, and such sterling honesty, had come among them.’   Spurgeon loved reading Gill’s sermons and wrote, for instance, in his copy of Gill’s preaching on the Song of Solomon, “This priceless work of my learned predecessor has always been helpful to me.”   In his Commenting and Commentaries, he says of this work...

“Those who despise it, have never read it, or are incapable of elevated spiritual feelings.”.... 

"This sums up much of present-day second-hand criticism of Gill, which is rarely based on a first-hand knowledge of his works. Gill’s commentaries, which were merely his sermons in writing, were regularly and eagerly consulted by the Prince of Preachers, who marked them all with three stars, which was Spurgeon’s way of saying, “The very best!”.

In 1886, he jotted in his copy of Ezekiel to Malachi the words, “Many sneer at Gill, but he is not to be dispensed with. In some respects, he has no superior. He is always well worth consulting.”   In a letter dated February 1855, Spurgeon pays tribute to Gill’s influence on him by stating “My position, as Pastor of one of the most influential churches, enables me to make myself heard and my daily labour is to revive the old doctrines of Gill, Owen, Calvin, Augustine and Christ.”

It would seem here that Spurgeon was so taken up by the testimony of Gill that he mixed up his priorities and put Gill first and Christ last.

======== 

The above is quoted from the article "John Gill and His Successors" by George Ella at http://evangelica.de/articles/biographies/john-gill-and-his-successors/
Go, read the full article and be enlightened. 

What has gone wrong? Are you among those midgets calling a true giant names, an evil so reflective of this degenerated generation?

========

Sam Vigue
“Whoever shall now contend that it is unjust to put heretics and blasphemers to death, knowingly and willingly incur their guilt. It is not human authority that speaks, it is God who speaks and prescribes a perpetual rule for His Church.” - John Calvin

For the personal safety of my family, I am careful to avoid anyone connected with John Calvin since their churches may promote putting people to death that they deem are heretics, etc.

Sing F Lau
Sam Vigue, I have nothing to do with the Genevan. 😂.

Steve Woods
He is not here to defend himself…

Sing F Lau,
Steve Woods If he (Gill) is alive, few would pick a fight with him.😂😂😂.

Let them be, they are different!

 

Let them be, they are different!

For all you Rick Warren fans out there:

Pastor Rick Warren Says Allah and Jehovah God Are One and the Same!

Chrislamity - a new religion promoted by Sick Barren of Donkeyass Stable

Central to Christianity are:

- The Trinity of the Godhead.

- Christ, the only begotten Son of God, the eternal Word made flesh

- Christ is the only substitute and Saviour for His people

- Imputation of Christ's righteousness

Islam rejects and anathematises all the above, i.e. Trinity in Unity, Incarnation, Substitution, and Imputation.

Let's just acknowledge that Islam and Christianity are distinct, with an unbridgeable gulf between them. The two are fundamentally different. Let them be. There is no need to pretend and lie. To do so is devilish deception.

Ac 20:29 "For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock."

http://godfatherpolitics.com/.../pastor-rick-warren.../...

-----------

 John Feroze

Pastor Rick needs to teach more about the real Doctrine of Grace. thanks for informing us

Sing F Lau
I do understand that before Islam came into being, the Arab believers refer to Jehovah as Allah.

That doesn't make the Allah of Islam the same as Jehovah, the God of Abraham, the Father of the man Jesus - the eternal Word made flesh.

Sing F Lau
'The god of the muslims was the same god of abraham... that's history.'
======

No, that's just her-story! <LOL>
Fable!

Equivocation is a dreaded disease, a plague to flee from!

Sing F Lau
In your fascination with technicality, you end up with obvious irrationality!

First, you said, "Jehovah is or the Judeo-Christian God is in fact also Allah...... the god of the muslims was the same god of Abraham"

Then, "now is it the same God?? obviously not." (I assume the pronoun 'it' refers to 'god of the muslims'.

If technically he didn't stop being the same God, then did he in some ways did stop being the same God?

So, the muslims do worship the same God of the Bible, only that they didn't worship him in spirit and truth?

Sing F Lau
@ If you are going to make that claim then you must also make the claim that the Jewish God Jehovah also is not the same God as the christian God....simply because the Jewish people have failed to believe in Christ.
======

Why must I also make the claim that the Jewish God Jehovah also is not the same God as the Christ God? Your answer: simply because the Jewish people have failed to believe in Christ.

But how does the Jews' failure to believe Christ necessarily make me claim that the Jewish God Jehovah also is not the same God as the Christian God???

You are equating the Jews who believe in the Jehovah God and His promised Messiah with the Muslims who worship their Allah without any hope of any Messiah!

Sing F Lau
@ Since the Jews and arabs consider themselves to worship the same God..
+++++++

Now you are equating arabs as muslims.

Do they worship the same God because they are enabled by the same Spirit?

And if they they do, why is Jesus the Son of God accursed to them?

No, you are hung up on a 1433 year technicality!

Sing F Lau
It is quite amusing, actually. I live in an increasing militant muslim country.
Arab defines ethnicity, and muslim religion!
In Malaysia, ethnicity and religion are EQUATED... by law!

For example, if a Chinese converts to Islam and become a Muslim, he must also become a Malay. He must take a Malay name, he must dress like a Malay, and he must speak Malay, etc. And if one is born a Malay, he is a Muslim by law... and if he ever converts out of Islam to whatever religion he chooses, he is subject to the law of apostasy!

Similarly, the Muslims EQUATE westerners (so-called 'white' people) as Christians!

Sing F Lau
So many westerners are so suckered by the Saudis and the like ... the turks have infiltrated their universities and even their black house, and they have Sick Barren (Rick Warren!) goading them on... ya Christians will soon be required to worship Allah... no problem at all... after all already conditioned that they are worshiping the same God! Allah bless America!

Sing F Lau
What you considered facts are:
- "Jehovah is or the Judeo Christian God is in fact also Allah... - "the god of the muslims was the same god of abraham...thats history."
- "They may be a cursed nation for changing the truth of God....but they didn't change Gods at any point in history."

Some superficial resemblances are equated as being the same! Man has two legs, chicken has two legs; therefore man is chicken and chicken is man <LOL>

No, they didn't change god at any point in history. But they did start worshiping Allah, distinct from the Jehovah God, at a certain point in history! He was not known nor worshiped prior to that.

Whoever said they are cursed people? How can a people who don't even have the truth be charged for changing the truth? OT Israel was most certainly cursed and destroyed for good - it possessed the truth of God but perverted it. USA is more likely going to be a cursed nation... for changing the truth of God!!!

Sing F Lau
Many insist that the Jehovah God revealed in the Bible is the same as the Allah of the Koran. He revealed Himself very differently in the Bible and the Koran.... or that His followers perceive the same God very differently! And by extension all men worship the same God, all religions are just different route to the same God... all roads lead to Rome! <LOL>

Sing F Lau
(Some folks have quietly deleted all their comments... so the exchanges above appear like a monologue. But why would people delete comments that express their beliefs???)
Shame on them.

Buddy TP
Amen bro Lau. Islam is not Christianity. God's covenant was confirmed in Isaac (Rebecca though a Syrian). Arabian Islam with Keturah and Egyptian Islam with Hagar (Ismael).-Gen.25

Peter Petersen
The fact that this al Ilah does not have a Son is enough for me, thank you very much.