Questions and answers relating to salvation and justification
The Letter of the Law Do you know what “the letter of the law” is? Well, it’s quite simple actually. The phrase “the letter of the law”, refers to the exact words of the law. It means, the law exactly as it is written. And it could refer to any law. Sometimes people use the phrase “the letter of the law”, in reference to the bible, and they…
“No one who is born of God, practices sin..” 1 John 3:9 Last week I mentioned that people sometimes go to extremes. One person thinks that they’re always in sin, and needing forgiveness, and another person thinks that they never sin. I would certainly hope that no Christian would constantly be in sin. And I’m quite certain that no Christian, never sins. The bible tells us…
There is a Sin unto Death Last week I talked about the idea of two classifications of sin; Mortal and venial sin. A mortal sin being a sin that brings death, unless repented of and forgiven. Whereas a venial sin would be a sin that does not incur death, and would not require any action to be forgiven. Of course that’s a bunch of hogwash according to the bible. …
Nailed To the Cross Some people have a saying, that “My sins have been nailed to the cross”. A friend of mine has another saying. He says, “My sins have been judged at the cross.” Neither of those two sayings are from the bible, so then we might ask ourselves, “Have my sins been nailed to the cross”? And “Have my sins been judged at…
By The Authority Of Jesus Recently I received a notebook from someone in the mail, and in the notebook, the man detailed his beliefs on salvation through baptism into Christ, and his beliefs on the Holy Spirit. The writer was very much focused on the NAME of Jesus. And he is also very focused on the Spirit having some sort of miraculous presence within us….
The Seed is the Word of God We’re told in 1 Peter 1, verse 23; “For you have been born again, not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable, through the living, and abiding word of God.” Remember what Jesus said in Mathew 24:35.. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away. The words of Jesus are the words of…
What Does It Mean To Be Anointed ? Last week in bible class, the subject of anointing was brought up. And we talked a little about it, but I thought that I saw some questions on some of the faces in the class, and so I thought that maybe I should talk about anointing, in more detail today. So here we go.. Anointing someone with…
Ignoring, Overlooking, not Believing This lesson is going to be about “ignoring” or you might say, “not believing” certain verses of scriptural, in order to stand by a false teaching. It says in 2 Peter 1:3; “Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”…
What Kind Of Spirit Do You Have? How many of you know exactly what it means to have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you? From my experience talking to people, most people are rather unsure of how the Holy Spirit dwells in us, and what does the Spirit do. Most people think that there’s a lot of mystery surrounding it. But there’s not. The…
Gifts of the Holy Spirit I want to talk about gifts of the Holy Spirit, but most importantly, I want to talk about one gift in particular. And that gift is mentioned in Acts 2, verse 38. That verse says; “Repent, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you shall receive…
The Miracle on Pentecost There are some misunderstandings about the miracle that occurred on the day of Pentecost when the apostles were given the ability to speak in tongues. Here’s what it says in Acts 2, verses 1 thru 4; “And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven, a noise like a violent…
Faith Equals Trust The apostle Paul wrote, in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 7; “For we walk by faith, and not by sight.” The word “faith”, means.. “trust, and confidence, and conviction”. And the word “walk”, refers to our behavior, and our manner of living. Therefore, to “walk by faith” means that our behavior and our conduct is governed by our trust, and our confidence…
He Is Risen ! Let’s Make Every Day A Celebration I saw an ad on Facebook, from a church of Christ. Their advertisement was promoting Easter, and all their special Easter services, and especially their “sunrise service”. So I left a comment on the page, and I asked; “What’s a church of Christ doing advertising and celebrating Easter?” So someone answered, and asked me; …
John 20:17 In the King James Version, John 20:17 reads like this; “Jesus saith unto her; Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended to My Father. But go to My brethren and say unto them; I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.” This was said to Mary Magdalene, on the morning of Christ’s resurrection. A…
The Absolute Truth I want to talk today about interpreting the bible. If a bible verse is true, then it’s true, and it can never be false. If a bible verse is true, it is absolutely true, no matter what. And a second true bible verse can never make the first true bible verse, untrue. That makes sense doesn’t it? For example; Jesus said, in John 14:6; …
Tribulation and the Bible The bible has a lot to say about tribulation. As a matter of fact, the Greek word translated “tribulation” is used 45 times in the new testament. Tribulations are described in the old testament, and in the new testament. It seems like ever since the world began, there has always been some sort of tribulation that people have had to go through. …
Does the Bible Teach that Christians will be Raptured from the Earth? The meaning of the word “rapture” as people use it in relation to the bible, is to “take, to seize, or to snatch up”. Does the bible teach that God will “snatch up” people off of this earth, and bring them to heaven? Does the bible teach a “rapture”? The simple answer…
Does Jesus have something against you? If you’ve ever sinned, and not repented of that sin, then yes, Jesus has something against you. But it doesn’t need to remain that way. As long as you have the breath of life in your body, you can repent. Jesus said, in Luke 15, verse 7; “..There will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.” But…
What Does It Feel Like to Be Saved? Can a person really know that they are saved? If you can know that you’re saved, how can you know it? Can you “feel” salvation, is that how you know you’re saved? If you CAN “feel” salvation, what does it feel like? In Acts chapter 8, there’s a story about an Ethiopian eunuch who was saved, and the scripture…
What Is The Gospel ? What if we could heal people of illnesses, simply by loving them? Wouldn’t that be great. We could heal our family members, and our close friends. If we had enough capacity to love, we could heal everyone. But what would happen to the people who don’t have anyone to love them? Would they simply have to remain sick, and possibly die? What…