Hi Stello,
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
v. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
John 5:24 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has
everlasting (eonian) life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
When the sacrifice of Christ is applied to a believer (by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit) the penalty of sin has been fully paid, we are no long condemned as the world still is. Our old self is crucified, a spiritual baptism into His death, spiritually raise as a "new man/woman" (Eph 2:15; 4:24; Col 3:10).
Rom 6:4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
v. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
v. 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
We cannot do anything, until God grants it to you, it is God who draws you to Christ and brings this about... once Christ's sacrifice has covered your sins you do not need to continually seek forgiveness, His grace covers all. But then we come into judgment to correct all of the errors of our ways.
Rom 5:20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,
v. 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Here are a few places that speaks of this.
http://bible-truths.com/fools.htm ------------------------
"If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: BUT HE HIMSELF SHALL BE SAVED, YET SO AS BY FIRE"!
There is the Scriptural destiny and outcome of Devine Spiritual Judgment—"SALVATION OF EVERY MAN." To be sure, "…Christ DIED for our sins" and "…and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the WHOLE WORLD" (I Cor. 15:3 & I John 2:2), and so the penalty for all sin for all time has been paid in full. However… HOWEVER, paying the penalty for sin does NOT take the sin out of the sinner, it only pays the penalty. JUDGMENT is what takes the sin out of the sinner, and:
"For the time is come that judgment must begin at the HOUSE OF GOD…" (I Pet. 4:17).
And contrary to orthodox Christianity, there are two great periods of judgment. The first is with ‘the House of God,’ and the second is in the final judgment of the rest of humanity in the Great White Throne Judgment. Here are the options according to Paul:
"For if we would [1] judge ourselves, we should not [2] be judged. But when we are [1] judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not [2] be condemned [
judged adversely] with the world [
in the Great White Throne judgment]" (I Cor. 11:31-32).
Both judgments will bring salvation, but the latter is far more severe.
http://bible-truths.com/lake15-B.html ------------------
Not only can we not deliver ourselves from sin; we cannot even truly repent of our sins by our own will. This too requires a miracle from God.
Repentance is not predicated upon the "free will" of man, but on the will of God. We have already cited this verse that we will now examine more closely.
"Or despise you the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? (Rom. 2:4).
What leads us to repentance? The goodness of our illusionary God-given "free will?" NO, "…the GOODNESS OF GOD…" But can the carnal, natural, unconverted mind of man appreciate God’s goodness and then repent by his own will? No, absolutely not. Let’s read it again: "the goodness of God LEADS you to repentance?"
This is the one and only time in the whole Bible that the Greek word ago is translated as "leadeth." If you check Wigram’s Englishman’s Greek Concordance of the New Testament, you will find that this Greek word ago is translated into much stronger words than "leadeth." Dozens and dozens of times ago is translated as bring or brought. The word, in fact, also means to drive. (Remember that in John 6:44 the Father "draws" [Gk: ‘drags’] us to Christ?)
Yes, repentance is a process, but it is the goodness of God that does the actual bringing us to and bringing about of our repentance.
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THE SCRIPTURAL PROCESS OF CONVERSION
The truth of conversion is a simple one, if we believe the Scriptures and don’t try to bring it about by some phantom free will. It is all of God.
How do the Scriptures say we become converted? Does an ounce of "free will" enter into the conversion process according to the Scriptures?
1. "Or despise you the riches of HIS goodness [‘
His goodness;’ not our free will] and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God LEADS [
God’s ‘leading’ is the CAUSE] you to repentance?" (Rom. 2:4). Where is the ‘free will’ in this statement? "God LEADS…" is the cause of repentance, not free will.
2. "No man CAN come to Me, except the Father which has sent Me draw [
Gk: ‘drag’] him: and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:44). This verse is plain: "No man CAN…" come to Christ of his own will. It is the Father "dragging" him that is the cause of one coming to Christ, not his own supposed free will.
3. "You have not chosen Me, but I HAVE CHOSEN YOU…" (John 15:16). "I have CHOSEN you…" is the CAUSE and it is by Christ’s will, not man’s will.
4. "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith OF the Son of God [n
ot faith ‘IN’ the Son of God, but the very faith ‘OF’ the Son of God—it is His faith, not ours until He gives us some of it] Who loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). It is not by the ‘free will’ of our faith that we live, but the by the faith OF Jesus. There is no human free will in all this.
5. "I am the Vine, ye are the branches: He that abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit, for without ME YE CAN DO NOTHING" (John 15:5). According to God’s Word, what is it that we can do by our own will? Answer: "NOTHING." It is Christ "IN him" that brings forth much fruit. Man does not bring forth much fruit by his fabled free will.
6. "And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:11). Is this man’s part in his own salvation? Must man confess that Jesus Christ is his Lord by his OWN FREE WILL, or it will have no real meaning? Is that how this confession is made? Answer: "…no man can say [
with his fabled free will] that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit" (I Cor. 12). Do we profess Jesus as our Lord by our own will or by the Holy Spirit? "By the Holy Spirit" is the cause. Our own will is not the cause of our calling Jesus, Lord.
7. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that [‘
that faith’] not of yourselves [
NOT of your own faith or will] it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are HIS workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:8-10).
Are we saved through the faith of our own will? NO. Do we do good works by our own will? NO. It is: God’s faith, God’s gift, God’s Workmanship, God’s creating, God’s ordaining. The cause is "His workmanship," not our own will.
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"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free [
here is this ‘cause and effect’ thing again] from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2).
No one can "freely" change his will from hating and disobeying God on one day to loving and obeying God on the next. No, it takes a supernatural miracle from God to accomplish this. God must Personally remove and free [here is the cause] us from being under the "Law of sin and death" to being under the "Law of the Spirit of life in Christ."
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Hope this helps.
mercy, peace and love
Kat