No, THIS is TRUE LOVE!
 

Re: No, THIS is TRUE LOVE!
 

According to some on here, this is false doctrine, Renda.....

Re: No, THIS is TRUE LOVE!
 

How can anyone look at the cross, the physical pain, the blood, tears and death, and then say that we have to do *anything* to earn salvation? It's been paid for, in full. To truly accept that will change a person completely. No one has to follow a set of steps or keep a checklist.

Re: No, THIS is TRUE LOVE!
 

Obey??? Is obedience a work?

Re: No, THIS is TRUE LOVE!
 

I don't understand the question in context.

To truly accept will change a person completely. I don't follow a set of steps or keep a checklist. I accept what has been offered and let it change me.

Re: No, THIS is TRUE LOVE!
 

Obey what? The rules that man has set? Because if we can earn our salvation thru obedience to the rules, then what purpose did Jesus suffering on the cross serve?

Re: No, THIS is TRUE LOVE!
 

Sorry, mostly addressing the faith alone belief that many believe, not so much your post.

Re: No, THIS is TRUE LOVE!
 

Yes!! And after suffering the exceedingly high cost of the "sins of the world", He declared "...it is finished!!!!"

Re: No, THIS is TRUE LOVE!
 

Christian's frustration in trying to "be good enough" is simply the result of not believing that what Jesus did was enough!!!

When we truly believe that HE finished the work of salvation, miraculously we are empowered to "live Godly in this present world." In contrast to striving and struggling for approval. Folks that have "...entered into HIS rest..." have ended their struggle!!! Amen!

Re: No, THIS is TRUE LOVE!
 

Exactly. We will never be good enough.

If we have to earn it, it's not free.

Re: No, THIS is TRUE LOVE!
 

He was nailed to the cross for me


What a wonderful, wonderful Savior,
Who would die on the cross for me!
Freely shedding His precious lifeblood,
That the sinner might be made free.

Refrain

He was nailed to the cross for me,
He was nailed to the cross for me;
On the cross crucified for me He died;
He was nailed to the cross for me.

Thus He left His heavenly glory,
To accomplish His Father’s plan;
He was born of the virgin Mary,
Took upon Him the form of man.


He was wounded for our transgressions,
And He carried our sorrows, too;
He’s the Healer of ev’ry sickness,
This He came to the world to do.

So He gave His life for others
In Redeeming this world from sin,
And He’s gone to prepare a mansion,
That at last we may enter in.

Re: No, THIS is TRUE LOVE!
 

Rhenda,

You know how to jerk my chain and get my attention...and then leave me near to tears. All of heaven and earth are paused in the awe and wonder of this unserachable love that neither wise men or angels have not been able to plunder the depths. Girl, truly you showed us what true love is. Now, I'll dry my tears.

One dear brother said of me to the affect, "I always knew that there was something about him that I did not agree with. He does not have the same kind of Holy Ghost that I HAVE."

The loving message was plain: "I have the true Holy Ghost, he (that would be me) does not. It would then follow that since he does not have the true Holy Ghost, he is on his way to hell...in fact the sooner, the better."

The truth is Rhenda, this heart stirring image that you displayed assures me that he needs not to be so gleeful and joyful at the prospects of me going to a devil's hell. I am comforted by these words:

Mic 7:8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD [shall be] a light unto me.

His gleeful rejoicing over the prospects that I am going to burn in a devil's hell forever might be a little premature. I have prayed for this brother and he would be blessed and prosper as well.

Actually, when I get to heaven, I fully expect to see this good man, (who considers himself my enemy) in heaven also...because of what Jesus did and the great expanse of love and forgiveness that no human mind can comprehend. Then, though aliens from each other now here in the natural, we will fall on each others shoulder in warm greetings filled with the kind of love shown in your picture here.

All things will be different there. That is why I love many people with whom I vehemently disagree. My thoughts are not His thought. My ways are not His ways. His love, grace and mercy is far more than my finite mind can comprehend.

Thank you for reminding me of what true love is all about.

Re: No, THIS is TRUE LOVE!
 

When it's submitted as a way to earn salvation -- absolutely.

Re: No, THIS is TRUE LOVE!
 

"Obey" is a command given to disciples. It is what a Master tells a servant. The Cross happened "while we were yet sinners..." (Romans 5:8). Our "master" was sin.

The Cross isn't a "command" we obey. It is a gift that was given. All of us were already servants to sin. We had a cruel and unloving master. Jesus Christ came to set us free from that servitude.

You appear to be jumping ahead to Romans 6, before even reading Romans 1, Romans 2, Romans 3, Romans 4, and Romans 5.

The order in which we "read" this story is vital. If we don't get the "free gift" part right (Romans 5:15-19), then we won't understand the "obedience" part either (Romans 6:11-18).

If we lay a foundation of "works" in the place where Jesus Christ and the apostles had laid the foundation of "a free gift," then we will have perverted the Gospel.

Re: No, THIS is TRUE LOVE!
 

Well said, my friends. Well said! :thumbsup

Re: No, THIS is TRUE LOVE!
 

:shockamoo

Re: No, THIS is TRUE LOVE!
 

What does obey the gospel mean? And what would obey not the gospel effect a persons salvation?

Re: No, THIS is TRUE LOVE!
 

This was a very helpful read for me this morning.

Re: No, THIS is TRUE LOVE!
 

[QUOTE]That is true.

According to the gospels it is also true that the call of disciples to become disciples was enjoined to each of them. For instance, The fishermen were commanded to "follow me and I will make you fishers of men, a command which they obeyed prior to becoming disciples. This is true with the tax collector who rose from the table of collections to immediately follow Jesus. Immediate obedience to the call to follow made each of them candidates for Christian disciplines which were taught by the Holy One whom they followed.
Amen.

Our master is still sin and will continue to be so as long as one yields his vessel to obey sin. Therefore our "master" is yet sin if so be that we yield our members to obey sin...for we are servants to whom we yield our members to obey.
Again, this is true.

Death reigned from Adam to Moses as there was no remedy for sin in the general sense, until the law was given at Sinai. By the blood of bulls and goats and the continued works of the law, year by year, the sin of the nation was rolled ahead until finally, the cross canceled the original sin of Adam together with all sin of every believer who served God in righteousness from the heart.

Until that time, every child born into the world, whether in the far flung islands of the sea or in outer Mongolia, was born with a guilty conscience with the load of sin bearing on him from birth. Since the cross, a change took place in the spirit world whereby every man was instantly free from past sins...particularly those of Adam own transgression that polluted the conscience of every man. The cross took away every past sin. Therefore, by revelation from heaven did John seeing Jesus coming toward him declared, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the SIN OF THE WORLD."

The sin that we must now contend with is the sin which we have committed SINCE the cross. Yes, past sin was dealt with and canceled 2000 years ago. However, the sin that you and I have committed since becoming aware of the presence of sin that leads us to bondage of sin our own volition. Adam's sin, the sin of the world, is not the problem. Our own sin is the problem. The work of the cross, which faith, and the obedience to that faith, whereby we become identified with Jesus by being crucified together with him, buried together with him and risen together with him, must be incorporated as our own faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Very good point.

A full and clear understanding of the first five chapters of Romans must be clearly understood before we come to the real essence of the 6th chapter.
Amen.

All the righteous dead from Adam to Moses and from Moses to the cross received unmerited favor for which sin was not imputed to them, a providence of divine benevolence that can only be called divine grace...a free gift of divine love and mercy appropriated to them by their faith, though long dead. Grace by love and mercy yet avails because of the cross since no man born into the world is born with the guilt of the sin of the world.

Works of the law are no longer a factor in regards to salvation. Men cannot be justified by the law given at Sinai. The deeds of that law avail nothing. Yet, there is a law of faith (Rom 3:27) by which means men find justification, that cannot be ignored. Hence, the introduction to Romans 6.

Re: No, THIS is TRUE LOVE!
 

Thank you sister.

Re: No, THIS is TRUE LOVE!
 

If I might add to my post no. 19 above which I neglected to state; a servant cannot be a servant until he is first disciplined by his (master) teacher. After he is fully disciplined as a disciple, it is only then that he is ready to become a faithful servant that knows the will of his Lord. He moves from the disciple/master relationship to the servant/lord relationship.

There are yet four other relationships above that of the servant/lord relationship though few, in this present age ever achieve any greater relationship that that of servant/lord, though that is the relationship we never leave though other relationships develop with maturity.