Are you saved by grace? Really?

 

Did you say that your salvation is by grace?
Just what do you mean by that?

How and when did God save you?

Have you believed the gospel of your salvation, or have you been deceived by some horrid lies?

Many LIARS teach that it is when you hear their preaching and decide to heed their call to believe in Jesus!

That is VERY BAD NEWS - if God has to wait for someone to preach the gospel to you and you need to hear, and to believe in order for Him to save you, you will never be saved! By nature, it is absolutely impossible!

The Scriptures say these about you:
- when you WERE without strength, i.e. IMPOTENT to believe! Rom 5:6.
- when you WERE ungodly, CONTRARY to God's will! Rom 4:5.
- while you WERE yet sinners, i.e. in the STATE of sin and death! Eph 2:1,5
- when you WERE enemies, i.e. WARRING against God! Rom 5:10, 8:7.

When you were still in such a pathetic, miserable helpless condition:
- Christ DIED for you, the ungodly! He didn't wait till you believe!
- God COMMENDED His love towards you! He didn't wait till you believe! - Christ JUSTIFIED you by His blood! He didn't wait till you believe!
- Christ SAVED you from the wrath to come! He didn't wait till you believe!
- Christ RECONCILED you to God by His death in your stead (when you have no real existence yet, except in the mind of God, and yours names were already in the Book of Life! )

Romans 5:
6 ¶ For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Ephesians 2 KJV
1 ¶And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins...
4 ¶But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)...
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

By grace ye are saved; WHEN are ye saved by grace?
When ye were YET DEAD IN SINS.

Do you read that?
Do you see a wee bit better now?

When ye were yet DEAD in trespasses and sins, were you capable of faith? 
Yes, or No?  Read John 3:3,5.

Then through WHOSE FAITH are ye saved by grace?
Are you thinking yet? 

What can you do to be saved WHEN you were dead in trespasses and sins? 

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Here is an exposition on Ephesians 2:8-9. 
Take a close look. May the Lord bless you to see the truth. Amen. 

https://things-new-and-old.blogspot.com/2008/01/saved-by-grace-through-faith-whose.html

 

"And he must needs go through Samaria." John 4:4

"And he must needs go through Samaria."

The detailed account of the encounter with the Samaritan woman (John 4:1-42) provides many precious lessons. I learned a few.

John 4:4 "And he must needs go through Samaria."
- Why? Because He has precious sheep there.

"By chance", the Lord met a lost sheep, a woman of ill repute.

John 4:18 "For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly."

Why did she come to the well at noon, of all the hours of the day?
To avoid meeting others? Why?
But her Saviour was there to apprehend her!

John 4:25-26 "The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he."

She left the scene when the disciples returned and to tell the others the incredible encounter she had with Jesus.

John 4:41-42 "And many more believed because of his own word; And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world."

Through this Samaritan woman, many more besides herself believed that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world, i.e. of both the Jews as well as the Gentiles and those in between, like the Samaritans!

I was reminded of these two lessons:
(i) The Lord has His sheep among the base and despised!
- Remember this: He came to save sinners, did He not?

(ii) The Lord could use EVEN such to bear witness, and to glorify Him!

Surely He could use a village bumpkin like me too. Amen.

1Corinthians 1 - KJT
26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

Amen and amen. 

The Twin Daughters of Gospel Regeneration

The filter before cleaning 

The filter after cleaning 

Clean the filter in your head regularly,
or else your mental vision becomes impaired.

April 16, 2011
https://www.facebook.com/sing.f.lau/posts/pfbid0Gj7HypxaRKdkbHcom95Vm3wNUU39SoJHvKM5A2SHmcKRZ7u1Dhtbyz6W3AhLy31zl

Mighty Mollow* (an Adjunct Professor) wrote,
My dear brother, did you listen to Paul's message? 
He does not advocate "decisional" regeneration... or did you miss the part about God opening Lydia's heart?  Sing, you will stand before God and answer for misrepresenting your brothers in Christ.

Sing
Dear Mighty Mollow,
This is what I wrote: "Decisional evangelism and decisional regeneration are twin daughters of gospel regeneration.
Another new school fullerite reviving a new path!"

No, I didn't say Paul Washer advocates decisional regeneration. I did say that "Decisional evangelism and decisional regeneration are twin daughters" of the gospel regenerationists. If you have a problem with my statement, it is your honour to explain the error of that statement.

I believe Paul Washer is a gospel regenerationist just like all the modern new school baptists - Fullerites. If I misrepresent him, I can repent now. So please prove that I have indeed misrepresented you and your friends.

We both will stand before God side by side...
- You for your crime of misrepresenting those you label as 'hyper-C' as ANTI-mean, while they are not.
- I for my crime of rightly calling you a gospel regenerationist, as well as your buddy Paul Washer!  <LOL>

Please bear in mind that God opening Lydia's heart to understand the gospel truth IS NOT THE SAME as God regenerating a Lydia dead in trespasses and sins.

REGENERATING someone dead in trespasses and sins and ENLIGHTENING someone already quickened/regenerated are very different.

A biblical distinction is the essence of sound theology

Before the gospel came to Lydia through Paul, she was already a God-fearing woman worshipping God. READ the passage and see what it says... don't just make it say what you imagined. May be to you, someone still dead in trespasses and sins is able to fear God and worship Him and pray to Him!

A biblical distinction is the essence of sound theology!
But wooliness is the mother of all confusion.

-----------------

*not his real name!

When will you get to your eternal home?

When will you get to your eternal home?

Initially posted here on April 16, 2023
https://www.facebook.com/sing.f.lau/posts/pfbid0PqNsW8itrWPoyEjyv2v1ktpqppPp1eFvbfhQ3evVHqiThHaefGNfhJmkJzcuyXu1l

When will you get to your eternal home?
Nearly every one wishfully thinks it is surely after his last breath; BUT Christ said it's NOT until He comes again: "I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."

John 14 - KJT
1 ¶Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

Are these words too hard to understand? 

Don't be deceived; Christ has spoken the truth.

The hymn writer of "How Great Thou Art" penned,
"When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!"

Until Christ comes to take His redeemed people, they are not home yet;
Christ shall come with shouts of acclamation to resurrect His redeemed, and take them home to glory, all together with those that are transformed.

Another hymn writer says,
"When we all get to heaven,
What a day of rejoicing that will be!
When we all see Jesus,
We’ll sing and shout the victory!"

There is a common day when all the redeemed are ushered into heaven, even on the day of the resurrection to eternal glory; a day of great rejoicing, only then is death swallowed up in victory.

1 Corinthians 15 KJT
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

Do you know where you will be while waiting to be resurrected and taken home by the Lord Jesus Christ? It is either paradise or hell. 

Do not forget that you, a living soul (Gen 2:7), consist of body and spirit.

1 Corinthians 6:20 KJT
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

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Take a look at these related articles:

https://things-new-and-old.blogspot.com/2026/04/paradise-and-intermediate-state.html

https://things-new-and-old.blogspot.com/2024/09/paradise-and-heaven.html

https://things-new-and-old.blogspot.com/2023/07/paradise-paradeisos-and-heaven-ouranos.html

https://things-new-and-old.blogspot.com/2026/04/paradise-and-heaven-are-they-same.html

https://things-new-and-old.blogspot.com/2023/12/of-mans-state-after-death-and.html

The Argument on the Well-meant Offer of Salvation

A superstitious man offering a roasted pig to the dead.
Even so, countless preachers offer salvation,
obviously to those without salvation, i.e. still dead in trespasses and sins.
Both are making their most sincere and well-meant offers
to the physically dead and spiritually dead, respectively.

The Argument on the Well-meant Offer of Salvation
Consistency,  thou art a jewel.
Inconsistency, thou art a peddler of lies.

In a nutshell, as I understand it:
- God decreed and purposed salvation for His elect.
- Christ executed that purpose and secured salvation for the same.
- The Spirit applies that salvation to each elect, dead in trespasses and sins, in the effectual call out of his native state of sin and death.

God sends His preachers, either
- to well-meaningly offer the salvation to all who are dead in trespasses and sins, or
- to call out all those whom He has already effectually called to believe the truth of their salvation by His free and sovereign grace in Jesus Christ.

The choice is simple; only one of them is consistent with the Scriptures.

(Some believe that God's decretive will and His preceptive will are different! That's a fable at best, schizophrenic at worst.  I believe they are in perfect harmony.)

Apostle Paul summarised his whole ministry thus, "Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes ..." I conclude that the gospel ministry, consistent with the particular redemption, is intended for and relevant only to the effectually called elect.

Christ's recommissioning of the regathered Apostles spelled out the nature of the ministry of the word, "feed... feed... feed..." The simple question is, feed who? The dead, or the living?

Just my feeble thought.

--------

A superstitious man offering a roasted pig to the dead.

Even so, countless preachers offer salvation, obviously to those without salvation, i.e. still dead in trespasses and sins.

Both are making their most sincere and well-meant offers to the physically dead and spiritually dead, respectively.