Do You Agree With Jerome and John of Damascus on the "Rock" in Mt 16 as Christ?

Not all of the early church fathers interpreted Mt 16 as the "rock" referring to Peter.  That is, sometimes they believed that the faith of Peter was the foundation of the church and could not be defeated by hell.  Others viewed the "Rock" of Mt 16 as Jesus Christ Himself.  Here are two quotations on Christ as the "Rock."  I also would like to suggest to you that if a church father believed that the "rock" was Peter it did not follow that they meant it referred to the "Bishop of Rome" alone but was for a plurality and equality of eldership leadership.  If Rome was set apart in early history it was because of their geological location not because the "Bishop of Rome" was the leader of the "universal" church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  However, here are some quotations from Jerome and John of Damascus.  I have the references upon request. 

Jerome (347-420) wrote,

"She, that with a firm root is founded upon the rock, Christ, the Catholic Church, is the one dove; she stands the perfect one, and near to His right hand, and has nothing sinister in her." 

 "The rock is Christ, Who gave to His apostles, that they also should be called rocks, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church."

"Was there no other province in the whole world to receive the gospel of pleasure, and into which the serpent might insinuate itself, except that which was founded by the teaching of Peter upon the rock Christ."

John of Damascus (645-749) wrote,

"The rock was Christ, the incarnate Word of God, the Lord, for Paul clearly teaches us: 'The rock was Christ' (I Cor. 10:4)."

Do You Agree With Early Church History Regarding Clement of Rome and Polycarp on the Nature of Justification?

The Bible teaches that justification (or how someone is right with God) is by faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-10).  We are not saved in whole or in part by our "good works."  Faith alone means trusting Christ alone.  It means we trust Jesus alone because He has the all-sufficient merit for how someone is right with God.  No one else in human history has the right to be trusted for "spiritual salvation or redemption" than our Lord and Deliverer Jesus Christ!  What did Jesus do in His earthly life?  I suggest to you that from the stand point of ancient and sacred history Jesus lived a sinless life that no one else lived!  This is why we can trust in His perfect, clean, righteous, pure, holy, upright, godly and divine righteousness.  Do not trust in your own "righteousness" because you are a sinner, but Jesus was NEVER a sinner.  That is why a person can trust in the sinless righteousness of Jesus Christ because He earned redemption and salvation for us.  Some of the early fathers taught the Reformer's doctrine of justification.  We ought to learn from them that this is not a novel Reformed doctrine of the very nature of justification.  Here is a quote from Clement (80-101 AD):

 "In love the Master took us unto Himself; for the love which He had toward us, Jesus Christ our Lord hath given His blood for us by the will of God, and His flesh for our flesh and His life for our lives...Thy all therefore were glorified and magnified, not through themselves or their own works or the righteous doing which they wrought, but through His will.  And so we, having been called through His will in Christ Jesus, are not justified through ourselves or through our own wisdom or understanding or piety or works which we wrought in holiness of heart, but through faith, whereby Almighty God justified all men that have been from the beginning; to whom be the glory for ever and ever."  (J.B. Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers, The Epistle of St. Clement to the Corinthians, 49, 32 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1989), pp. 34, 26)

Here is a quote from Polycarp (69-155/156 AD):

 "Forasmuch as ye know that it is by grace ye are saved, not of works, but by the will of God through Jesus Christ."  (Ibid., The Epistle of St. Polycarp, 1, p. 95).

In early church history we see that Clement and Polycarp both taught what Martin Luther and John Calvin taught in light of the sacred pages of the Bible.  That is, spiritual salvation is not through good works or anything else but through the sacred will of God through Jesus Christ.  I suggest to you that if only people listened to the biblical interpretations of the fathers they would understand that they taught that salvation was by grace alone through faith alone.  Its harder to have faith than to do "good works."  The sinful nature does not want to have faith and rest in Jesus.  I suggest to you this day that faith in Jesus is not only possible but actual through the regenerating power of the Spirit of God and the efficacious power of the written Word.  May God grant people to bring reformation to Rome and everywhere the gospel is compromised!  Amen.

Disputations on the Teaching of "Spiritual Salvation" Concerning World Religions and Non-Christian Cults, Pt 1

 A Introduction
I have studied the subject of world religions and non-Christian cults.  I would suggest the apparent references Halverson's The Compact Guide to World Religions and House's Charts of Cults, Sects and Religious Movements.  These are heady reference tools to learn about the doctrines of non-Christian religions.  I have learned a great deal of information.  I hope this is helpful to a Christian or a person who wants to learn more on the doctrine of non-biblical teachings in light of the Bible.

Thoughts on the World Religion on "Animism"
1.  If Animists are worried about "offending local spirits" they will not be contritely focused on fearing the Blessed and Holy Trinity, or contemplate their own sinful nature in light of the Bible's teaching of total depravity and radical corruption!

2. Animists believe that God us unknowable, but if what the Bible teaches is true and God's people can really know Him in a personal relationship in holiness and godliness and faith and repentance?

3.  I recommend to Animists in a spiritual sense to trust the Blessed Trinity, but what if they want to trust their "spirits"?  There needs to be an spiritual awakening to Christ and His Word.  If you do not know Christ, you have a stoney heart of unbelief.  You need a new heart of felt need for Christ to trust Him alone.

4.  Animists should know that God's people are His children, justified freely by His grace, freed from damnation, secure in God's love, holy and blameless, free from spiritual slavery and sealed by God's Spirit.  If you fear the "local spirits" you are actually worshiping them, but you ought to fear God alone: His name is Jehovah and He is one God revealed in three distinct persons: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Thoughts on the World Religion on "Buddhism"
5.   Have you considered the God of the Bible concerning those who follow "Theravada Buddhism"?  That is, the God of the Bible is a personal God who is self-existent not abstract!

6.  Have you thought on the God of the divine Word instead of an abstract void (that is Nirvana) and the "Buddha essence" instead of the personal God of the written Old and New Testament?

7.  Do you realize that the spiritual solution concerning the "Theravada Buddhist" is not the illusion of self but we suffer because of the consequences of sin?

8.  The "Mahayana Buddhist" thinks the same as the "Theravada Buddhist" concerning the "spiritual solution" of man's spiritual nature, but don't you realize through a simple "introspection" that we have rebelled against a holy God?  Surely God's goodness can be seen in His glorious creation!  We have sinned against a holy God and have provoked Him to anger, but it is only through Jesus Christ as the only God-man that rescues us from spiritual sin.

9.  Why do you trust in "self-reliance" rather than on God and total reliance on Him alone?  I suggest to you that you have a nature of rebellious idolatry and arrogance!  That is, your own heart has led you astray and the master of the fallen ones who is Satan.  You ought to repent of your own personal sin of "self-reliance" and accrue karmic merit, meritorious rituals, emptying of the mind, understanding the Buddha-essence within and resting on the merits of Bodhisattva.  You have been misled!  You ought to trust the unified merit of Jesus Christ alone as your only Savior and Lord.  I suggest to you that there is no other reliable or credible merit than that of Jesus the great and awesome God and Redeemer!

10.  Why didn't Buddha claim to have a unique relationship with God like Jesus if he is to be trusted?  Why don't you consider that Jesus has a special and unique relationship with God?  Jesus considered the existence of God essential because He intercedes on behalf of the sinner, but Buddha did not consider God's existence important or essential.  Buddha believed God's existence did not believe God's existence would give him the spiritual ability to be rid of human suffering.  If we are to understand human suffering, we ought to turn to the only God-man!  Jesus suffered in behalf of all His people alone.  There is no better example to comprehend human suffering than to behold King Jesus.  He suffered for redemptive purposes alone!

11.  Do you understand that Buddha and Jesus cannot be compared as spiritual equals?  We ought to already know that Buddha claimed to "point to the way" of escaping human suffering and entering into enlightenment, but Jesus claimed to be the ONLY WAY to have everlasting life!

12.  Buddha taught that a person had to take away the desire of suffering to eliminate suffering, but Jesus taught that a person should have the right desire to eliminate suffering.

13.  We ought to understand that there is multiple "bodhisattvas." However, don't you understand the divine Word that there was a single incarnation of God the Son in the Person of Jesus Christ alone?

Thoughts of the World Religion on "Confucianism"
14.  Why do you think man's nature is morally good when the infallible Scriptures say that man is "not good" and "not righteous"?

15.  If there is a "transcendent root of man's goodness" why did Jesus say that no one was "good" but God alone and not man?

16.  Why shouldn't we be rooted in a personal God who cares about human suffering?  I suggest to you that our suffering is because of our rebellion of moral laws.  However, suffering is also sometimes the displayed work of God to manifest miracles through His divine and awesome Son.

17.  If no one can know God, why did Jesus explain the theology behind God?  If no one can know God, how did Jesus Christ pray to the Father in behalf of the apostle Peter so his faith fail not?

18.  If God is impersonal, how did the Second Person of the Trinity become man in Jesus Christ as God Incarnate?

19.  If God is silent why does He have a written Scriptures of special revelation?   It is true that God concerning spiritual salvation or redemption is silent in terms of His Son in general revelation (that is, His glorious creation) but He is not silent about the holy matters of God in the Old and New Testaments.

20.  If you have a conscience you understand that you have "bad thoughts" in your minds, and doesn't that tell you that you are no good?  If humanity is good by nature, how it is that he steals?  How it is that he murders?  The inspired revelation of the divine Word says that if you have broken one commandment of God in His Word, you have broken them all.  Does this not speak to your "mortally woundedness" in a spiritual sense?  God had to destroy all mankind because they were totally corrupt in ancient history regarding Noah's global flood!  I suggest to you that a simple investigation of your own heart will tell you that you are not good.  If you "feel" good it does not mean you necessarily are "good."  People that do what seems to be "good" is a "civil righteousness."  That is, man's alleged "goodness" is corrupted with sin!  Sin is a total and spiritual offense against God. 

21.  If Confucius never saw someone love another, how can man be good by nature?  I suggest to you that Jesus is Somebody who loves His own to the uttermost!  Jesus proclaimed that we love our neighbor and to love our enemies.  I have to say that the reason why Confucius said he could not attain to love was because he was not born from above!  I suggest to you that the only way to love is to be born from above.  It is true that the reprobate love their own, but this is of the sinful nature and a display of "civil righteousness."  Civil righteousness will never make anyone right with God in our broken relationship.

22.  If the mind falling into evil does not mean man is not good, how can you change your evil if you once embraced whether it is "forced" or "allowed"?  If we are by nature good, why do the Scriptures give us the Golden Rule?  We have a goal to do good but we can't carry it out.  I suggest to you it is because we are made in the "image of God."  However, we have spiritually rebelled against a holy God.  We need reconciliation and redemption and salvation.   We do not have this by nature because we are no good.  We need Jesus' forgiveness and cleansing and divine grace! 

23.  We have a "broken" relationship with God because of the fall of Adam.  That is, we are in "original sin."  It means we have a corrupt nature. We make evil choices.  The only way to restore our "spiritual relationship" with God is through a divine Savior, Advocate and Mediator!  It cannot come from "human effort" but through God's merciful call.

24.  The God of the Bible is a God who speaks.  That is, He speaks in His written Word alone.  He reveals His special revelation to us that Jesus is the Savior and Lord whereby we are right with God.  It is only through His imputed and accounted righteousness in His unified merit through faith alone that we will stand right with God.  Confucius did not offer forgiveness.  However, Jesus offers forgiveness through Himself alone.  Will you turn to Jesus now and be forgiven?  Be reconciled to God!  It is through and in Jesus!

25.  No one can save themselves through personal goodness.  No one is saved through humanity's goodness.  We are in need of the divine righteousness of Jesus Christ alone.  You ought to trust Him by faith alone because of grace alone.  We can't be right with God by our own attempts. 

26.  It is true that God is silent in general revelation and in special revelation He is a speaking God.  This may help the "Confucian" to understand the two theological concepts.

27.  We proclaim a humble declaration that you can be right with God through Jesus as Savior in a personal relationship with God.

28.   If you understand that God is both transcendent and immanent, why don't you seek to understand the God of the Christian Bible?

29.  If you practice ancestral worship, have you not considered it idolatry in light of God's "holiness"?  I suggest to you that if you understand the absolute holiness of God alone as "set-apart" you will give up worshiping spirits because it is contrary to the special and unique holiness of God alone!

Thoughts of the World Religion on "Hinduism"
30.  How can God be "impersonal" as the nature of Braham if the one true God of the Bible is personal?  Have you not read that God is a personal God?

31.  If we have a divine nature in the law of karma, why does the inerrant Word of God say that you are a man and not a god?

32.  If reincarnation is true, how did Jesus Christ rise from the dead and enter heaven?

33.  If being "liberated" is realizing that the self is an illusion and as Halverson says concerning Hinduism "that only the undifferentiated oneness of Braham is real" (pg. 90), why does the infallible Scriptures say that being "spiritual free" is to know God and His only Son?

34.  If karma does not affect our relationship, have you not considered that sin has caused a spiritual wall between you and God?  

35.   Why do you embrace the "law of karma" if it does not truly offer forgiveness?  Jesus says "come to Me" in Matthew's Gospel of chapter 11: why don't you come to Jesus?  He offers complete forgiveness.

36.  God is three persons and one God.  That is, His person can be realized in the human mind of a sinner.  Sin is the rejection of the holiness of God and alienation to Him.   You need to confess your sins to God and be forgiven through Jesus alone to enter into eternal fellowship with Him.

37.  Gandhi said to study the life of Jesus and to not study His life was "incomplete."  I would recommend to the Hindu to read the Gospel of Luke and John.

38.  Why don't you look to Jesus and focus on Him alone?  He will save you if you ask Him.  He is gracious and He will "cast out" none who come to Him by faith alone?

39.  I suggest to the Indian that Jesus can be your Savior and you may be proud of your national heritage.  You may suffer because you know Jesus, but you will join a great cloud of witnesses.

40.  If there are many paths to God, why does Jesus say that He is the only way to the God the Father?  I suggest to you that other ways to God is unacceptable in a spiritual sense, because only Jesus is spiritually and divinely credible and reliable to believe.

41.  If Jesus is not unique, how did He perform various miraculous signs that is divinely preserved in John's Gospel?  Jesus is not the same as Mohammed or Zoroaster, but He is the unique Son of God.  A former Hindu sees the profound and unmistakable separation between Jesus and other teachers.

42.  If you must pay for your own karmic debt, have you not read that Jesus pays the spiritual debt of all of His people through the Cross alone?

43.  There were not "ten incarnations" concerning animals and humans, but Jesus is God's incarnation alone!  This would be a divine between "Vishnu" and Jesus.

44.  Why trust the Vishnu if the history is not essential?  Why not trust the divine historicity of Jesus in the OT and NT of the Christian Bible?

45.  If the Vishnu's incarnations was the ruin of evil-doers, have you not considered the divine love of Jesus to seek and save the lost?

46.  Why would you trust an avator that pointed to a way, when Jesus pointed to Himself as the only way?  I suggest to you that Jesus is the divine Son of God.  You ought to trust Him alone!

47.  Have you not considered the unique resurrection of Jesus Christ in comparison of the avators?  The avators in the Vishnu died, but Jesus rose from the dead and destroyed death.  Hinduism does not teach a bodily resurrection, but Jesus defeated death through His triumphant resurrection.

48.  If you are a Hindu and have a problem with the violent death of Jesus, have you considered that it happened because of the "wages of sin"?

Thoughts of the World Religion on "Islam"
49.  If you deny the Holy Trinity, have you not read that it is taught in the inerrant Scriptures?  If God is a singular unity why is He displayed in the OT and NT as three persons almost on every page?

50.  If humans are good by nature, why do you mistreat women and murder innocent people?  I suggest to you that the Bible declares that human beings are radically polluted and evil continually.  You have not obeyed the "law of God" but you have disobeyed it.  You solely need the complete righteousness of Jesus Christ alone through faith alone.

51.  If sin is simply rejecting right guidance, why has sin caused spiritual death?  Why has sin caused rebellion against God?  Do you not realize that you are desperately wicked and who can understand your wicked heart?  I suggest to you this is the Bible's teaching in its special revelation.

52.  If the standard of spiritual salvation is someone's good deeds, how you not considered that your good deeds are completely tainted with sinfulness and depravity?

53.  If Jesus is merely a major prophet, how do you realize the Bible's teaching of Jesus as God the Son?  I suggest to you that the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ alone.  It is not enough to simply honor the virgin birth and miracles of Jesus.  You must explicitly trust in Him alone for spiritual redemption.

54.  The Quarn is filled with errors, but the Bible is divinely inspired. 

55.  I don't mean to be critical to Islam, but I want to share with you the Gospel of God.  It is all about forgiveness, grace and divine righteousness.  I suggest to you that you need a divine covering for your sins.  Doing good works will not save you.  You need the righteousness of Jesus alone.

56.  You can trust the Bible because the Quarn says you can!  It says "the Book" is "authoritative" and credible "revelations" from God (Surah 2:136; 4:163).

57.  We do not worship three gods, but one God revealed in three distinct persons. The Trinity does not consist of the God, Christ and Mary (Surah 5:116, Ali).  The Holy Trinity is the teaching that God is one in unity and three in person.  That is, God is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

58.  God did not have physical relations with Mary to "beget a son" (Surah 19:34-35).  Ironically this is the teaching of Mormonism that the Father had physical relations with Mary, but it is not a teaching of biblical Christianity.  Jesus is eternally begotten of the Father which means He is the eternal Son of God.

59. If you reject the Cross of Jesus, you also reject the divine remedy by which you are spiritually saved.  The Cross of Jesus paid the spiritually debt of God's people alone.  

60.  The Quran does not deny that Jesus was crucified but only by the Jews (Surah 4:157-158).   However, Muslims deny His crucifixion and believe God took Jesus to heaven.  But the Romans killed Jesus, and we also see that ultimately God crushed His own Son to bring about redemption. 

Lets Not "Presume" Grace or Be "Content" with Sin

We ought not to presume on the grace of God.  This happens when we are not reading the Word of God.  We ought to read the written Scriptures on a daily basis.  It will keep us strong and help us.  Martin Luther said it was good to read the Word of God all year round.  It was a good testimony and example among those of the local church.  If we find ourselves presuming on God's grace, we ought to repent and believe the gospel.  Let us remember that repentance does not save us but only Jesus! 

Let us not be content with sin in our Christian lives.  If we find ourselves content, may we repent and believe the gospel.  We ought to seek to walk and live worthy of the gospel.  God will help us live the Christian life and grow in holiness.  Its by His grace all the way through.  Its in ever corner and the center of our hope.  We ought to be holy and godly people in Christ.  If we are in Christ, there is no condemnation for us.  If someone is "in Christ" sin cannot take you out of Christ.  God's love is unchangeable and eternal.  Nothing can take us out or separate us from the very love of God through His dear Son.

Peace be with you!

All Human Suffering is Trifling in light of the Cross of Jesus Christ

The Cross is the center and most profound act of love for God's chosen people by God's Spirit and His Word.  All human suffering is trifling compared to the peace of eternal bliss and the love of the Cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Do you realize this in a spiritual understanding?

There may be great moments of human suffering in your life.  There is no suffering, however, like the Cross of our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ!  At the Cross, He bore the very pains and agonies of hell in our place.  He simply did not redeem every soul but only and all those who trust in His Cross alone.   We ought to trust in the Cross of Jesus Christ alone.  It is greater suffering than all of human history combined, and it is infinitely and far exceedingly powerful than the greatest and ultimate human sin.

Do you realize at the Cross Jesus Christ He bore our hell upon Himself?  He alone redemptively suffered in our behalf and took upon Himself the curse of sin!  He simply did not redeem us so we can go to hell in the final analysis of our lives, but He saved us through the sole propitiation of His bloody atonement.  He alone expiated our sins as far as the east is from the west!  There is no Savior or Redeemer like our Jesus.

In the end, nothing is in comparison with the eternal joys of heaven that the Cross secures.  We are given the eternal benefits of the redemptive Cross of the God-man through the spiritual application of the Holy Spirit and the written Scriptures.  All of our toil will be repaid when we see the Risen Redeemer!  We will be instantaneously glorified and perfect and sinless.  Right now all believers in Christ have a clean or sinless soul but their body continues to have the remaining corruption of sin.  I suggest to you that one of the closest "sufferings" of someone to Jesus at holy Cross was His mother.  However, I would like to rightly point out that the "sufferings" of the Virgin Mary are a trifling thing in light of the agony of our Lord Jesus!  That is, there is no suffering touching this life that compares with the efficaciously redemptive suffering of Jesus Christ.  His mother did not suffer hell in our place.  We know she did suffer but it was not for sin or to make atonement.  I suggest to you that only the self-existent God-man could make atonement for sin that would spiritually aid the sons and daughters of Adam to spiritual victory over death, darkness, hell and Satan!

We study in history the captivity and bondage and suffering of the people of Israel in Egypt.  We also study much later on the Holocaust of the Jewish people.  We also hear of people who have suffered greatly in their individual lives.  I would like to suggest to you in respectful terms that none of these as a whole is worthy of comparison to the Cross of the Lamb of God.  He took upon Himself the hell of an innumerable multitude.  That is, every sin we have ever committed He paid for it in our place.  There is no suffering that remits sin but that which is from the Cross!  I suggest to you that Jesus on His Cross found His resting place for His head that found none in this life among the companionship of men.  That is, He lived in poverty and at His Cross he bore the total pain of our sin.  There is no sin greater than the Cross!  I also suggest to you that in light of the wisdom of Scripture there is no suffering like the Cross.  It should be an encouragement to us if we suffer because the Father permitted His Son to suffer eternally.  May we understand by His Spirit that all human suffering is trifling in light of His Cross.  This should give us hope that never fades away.  Amen.

May Each of Us Live a Life of Godliness!

We ought to live a life of godliness because it is commanded in the divine Scriptures.  Righteous people will fall into sin but through holy godliness we repent and believe the gospel.  None are perfect people because we all have a sin nature.  However, some are small sinners and some are great sinners.  The best of us will fall into sin because of the elusive power of the sinful flesh and power of corruption in us.

We ought to walk worthy of the gospel.  It is godly when someone sins and repent toward God through the Cross!   We ought to live a godly life before God and the world and His people and the elect angels.  We ought to catch ourselves when we fall into sin by His Spirit and the conviction of His written Word!  If we miss sin it is covered under the blood of Christ the moment you first trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, but we should not make a habit of missing sins to repent of.  Rather we ought to go before God and say, "Triune Jehovah, please reveal to me any sin I have committed and I will gladly repent and turn to Thee by Thy Spirit and Word in Thy good lovingkindnesses!"

We can only live a godly life if we learn to rest on God and His promises.  None of us practice the Christian life perfectly, but that does not excuse to sin.  We all have a remaining corruption for those who are truly born again.  We ought to repent of that remaining corruption and surrender to God through the practice of His Word.  If you have fallen into sin, it is not to late and you are never far away enough to be unreachable in God's point of view.  Turn and return to God.  Turn away from your sin to God.  I have heard that many Christian pastors struggle with sexual sin regarding pornography.  It is not the unforgivable sin.  Rather it is still wrong and we all need to embrace godliness.  If you have fallen into this particular sin, it also does not mean you are not a Christian.  However, pornography has its mark of condemnation and Christians ought to stay away from it.  I suggest to you that chastisement will come if you sin this particular sin.  However, it is surely not redemptive suffering but it is a suffering unto chastening that avails holiness in progressive sanctification!  Seek to make adjustments to prevent this transgression or any sin for that matter.  We might have to give up certain things that we love to be a godlier Christian.  It does not mean as a preacher of the Gospel that people think you are perfect or never sin.  Be encouraged that there is a divine Savior who takes away all sin.  No one understands like Jesus and no one forgives like Jesus!  I am aware of sin in my life that the Holy Spirit has awakened me to.  That means when I am aware of that sin, I repent and believe Jesus to forgive and cleanse me from that particular sin.  This is what godly Christians do!  If we sin and do not repent, we need to learn holy responsibility before God in the private access of our minds.

What do you do with your sin?  Also, what do you do with your profound guilt?  Are you redeeming the time or falling backwards with weak evidence that you walk by the Spirit?  Have you improved in your godly walk with our Lord Jesus but fall into some sin?  Do not worry, He will pardon you if you ask Him.  He has blotted out all our sin as far as the east is from the west through His shed blood at the Cross.  Remember Jesus is there for you if you fall into iniquity!  I suggest to you that I have experienced God's all-powerful grace that covers me and helps to fight against the evil of our sinful nature.  Do you feel that the Spirit is awakening you to your former, present and secret sins?  If you have taken steps backward because of the elusive power of hell, turn now to Jesus and He will forgive your sin freely.  Jesus will always forgive you when you contritely repent.  However, we ought to seek to live a life higher than this world of sin.  A life of godliness, holiness, uprightness and in all practical righteousness! With this comes a life of joy, a life of peace and a life of contentment.  Sin weakens our godly testimony, but if we repent we have gained the victory.  I suggest to you that if a brother or sister sins against you and repents, you also to forgive him.  But let us not make excuses for sin, but if you do Jesus will forgive you again!  However, lets not make provisions for the flesh because the Cross should empower and enable us to be more and more godly.  The power of godliness comes from the Cross.  Maybe you are in a difficult situation and do not know where to turn.  I suggest to you that you ought to trust Jesus in His perfect work at His Cross!  The power to forgive sins is in the Cross of our Deliverer and Friend Jesus Christ.  There may be a particular sin wherein you constantly struggle and cannot rule over it.  I suggest to you that you ought to remember God's grace and through His grace, love and self-control!  If you have a loving self-control as a fruit of the Spirit, it will conquer this "constant" sin that may emerge in your life.  I heard one Bible pastor say that there are some "constant" sins that we regularly repent of that might be with us until the moment of death.  I suggest to you that you always remember faith and repentance and contrite confession towards God through His agony at the Cross.  May all of us live in light of the Cross.

Grace and peace!

Belonging to Christ: A Basic Study of Galatians 5:24, Pt 5

10.  Paul says we ought to put on our Lord Jesus Christ.  That is, He covers us in full and complete righteousness.  We ought to make no provision for the flesh or the sinful nature.  Do not give into the flesh.  You ought to know its ugly design to try to trip you up.  Be strong and courageous!  Do not give in to the flesh!  It takes a radical point of view to stand against the flesh.  Stand and be counted!  Do everything it takes to put sin to death.  We are to live as if sin is already put to death within us.  The Bible teaches that it is indeed put to death in a spiritual sense.  Temptations by the flesh or Satan would have you love to embrace it.  But you must not let it have its pleasure over you.  Remember the "ring" from Lord of the Rings?  No body could control the ring and its evil power.  It answered to "one master."  We ought to remember the sinful flesh is the same way, because it answers to Satan.  It cannot be controlled by human means; however, it is possible for some reprobates to resist sin for a time, but they cannot master it.  However, we ought to turn it on its head and answer to our Master Jesus Christ alone!  You ought to pray to see what God wants from you and make the Spirit's plans a main goal.  You might want to reform by grace the things you have been doing in your private life.  You might have to get rid of things that you once held dear.  The flesh likes to place things above its Divine and Incarnate Master Jesus Christ!   Spend time in devoted prayer on your knees and also listen to sermons daily.

11.  We ought to guard our hearts in Christ.  We ought to watch over our hearts with all diligence, because from the heart flows the spring of life.  We ought to keep the heart pure with profound diligence.  The affections of the heart soon become actions of the will.  We ought to never pollute it or dwell on the things of the world.  We must fix our eyes on Jesus and have faith in Him.  We ought to keep seeking the heavenly things above.  If we do this, we will no doubt perform godly actions and behavior.  If we do not focus on heavenly things, it feeds the sinful flesh.  Every sin we commit is an act of polluted idolatry.  However, Jesus will forgive us of sins we commit.  He is faithful and true.  We belong to Christ and no sin can undo that.  Are you walking in the fruits of the Spirit or the deeds of the flesh?  What do you seek?  Do you seek humility?  Do you confess before God, "Lord, I am a thoroughly depraved sinner.  I am radically corrupt and only evil continually.  I am a worm like Jacob and a lamb daily dying.  I have no good that dwells in me and I am not righteous.  I have nothing by which Thou canst delight in me but all I possess is filthy rages as my spiritual garments.  Would you help a poor sinner like me?  With all that I know, I love Thee because of Thy grace alone!  Amen."

12.  Paul says we practice what we hate.  That is, the good we would do we do not do it, but the bad we do not want to do that, that we do.  We cannot please God in the flesh.  We cannot merit heaven or do works of satisfaction.  We cannot go to heaven by simply doing "good" and not believing Jesus.  I suggest to you that we cannot do works of goodness at God's standard of perfection because we are entirely corrupted.   However, if we want to please God by His Spirit we ought to read His awesome Word.  The sinful flesh is a powerful enemy and it is thoroughly and desperately evil.  The flesh makes us less than nothing or nothing before God.  However, do not despair because we have a Redeemer Jesus Christ who saves perfectly!  But the flesh would seek to delay your coming to Christ.  However, all of our "human wills" are in His perfect and sovereign and Almighty hand.  We ought to know that the sinful flesh despises all about God and His Word.  It takes to taste and see that the Lord is good.  It hates to know Him.  It hates to love Him.  We need to be enabled to belong to Christ through the sovereign and divine guidance, direction and leadership of the Holy Spirit and the Word of the Spirit.  If we are not enabled to believe by God alone, no one would come to faith in Him.  The flesh fights against the Spirit.   It fights violently against the holy things of the divine Scriptures!  There is a battle waging against the Word and Spirit within us.  It takes the all-powerful Christ who is stronger enough to save to subdue us that we surrender by His design to Himself.  The flesh hates the mind knowing God but wants ignorance instead.  If you receive more divine knowledge, it would seek to puff you up.  The sinful nature loves the darkness and spiritual error.  The sinful flesh is the stiff-wickedness and stubbornness that holds us back.  The mere strength of the will of a sinner cannot successfully avail itself to true spiritual belief because of the nature of the sinful nature.  I tried to believe when I was not a Christian but it did not work.  In order to belong to Christ I needed to be born from above.  That eventually happened where I was born from above, but it took the Spirit and the Word alone to change my stoney heart.  We will always struggle with the sinful nature as long as we are in this body of death.  By His all-powerful grace, we ought to long for God and His Word.  We should continue to fight against the flesh.  We should continue to fight against sensuality, immorality and sexual evil.  We must never give in, because in it is serious danger.  I suggest to you that the divine grace of God is more powerful than our evil and corrupted flesh.  We are in a battle that prepares us for heaven.  We long for heaven more because of the battle.  If we did not have the battle, we may not long for heaven. We ought not to get comfortable and slack on the holy things of God.  We should seek to experience the depths of His deep, deep, deep love through our Savior Jesus!  He will empower us to do what is right and we ought to know that all of sanctification is by His gracious grace.  Amen.  (Sermon Reference:  Pastor Smith/"Crucified Yet Deadly"/Sept. 15, 2012).

Belonging to Christ: A Basic Study of Galatians 5:24, Pt 4

8.  The flesh or the sinful nature seeks to take us away from God, Christ, the Spirit and the Word.  The flesh is a powerful weapon of Satan to keep you from the local church.  The flesh wants to keep us away from the written Word of God and the proclamation of His divine truth.  The flesh seeks to draw us away from God and His holy Word.  We are never tempted of God.  Let none of us say we are tempted of God.  None of us are tempted by God.  If a sinner thinks he is tempted by God, he is committing iniquity.  God cannot be tempted by evil.  God never tempts a person to sin or to commit evil.  As James says, we are tempted when we are carried away and enticed by our own evil lust!  Sin is evilly attractive to us because of our corrupt nature.  Sin is desirable to us because we are fallen creatures.  Sin is alluring because it is pleasurable.  There is a pleasure that is not of God but of sin.  However, there are eternal pleasures at the right hand of God.  That is, holy pleasure is obedience and worship and service to the Holy Trinity.  Sin seeks its own design devoid of God and His Word to take us away from holiness.  Sin has blinded the minds and hearts of religious and secular people throughout the centuries.  Many have gone to hell because they were not saved from sin.  We all have the personal responsibility to repent and believe the gospel.  We must remember that there is a great transference from the Cross to us.  The sin and punishment is placed at the Cross in repentance and the forgiveness, cleansing and grace is imparted to us from Jesus' Cross alone.  The Cross deals with small and great sin alike and it seduces us into more corrupt thinking, words and behavior.  Temptation makes sin more "appealing" than divine and holy righteousness.  The sin grabs our attention in our thinking.  Our minds are captured with the corruption and wickedness of sin.  The sin also grabs our feelings and our wills to act in disobedience against God and His law.  The sin becomes a reality when we commit ourselves to it.  The people who live in the flesh fall for sin because all they do is sin.  Lust gives birth to sin and sin brings forth death.  Life for the wicked is contrary to the righteous.  Life for the rebellious is a monster and a disaster!  The reprobates blame others for their "misfortunes" and seek to be masters of their destinies!  I have seen many say that they are in charge of their destiny.  However, this is simply not the case, because God has preordained all things after the counsel of His own will.  We should not seek a false sense of peace in thinking we are in charge of our lives, because God alone decides what we do in every detail.

9.  The flesh does not want Jesus Christ.  That is why without God no one would ever be saved.  He saves and He alone gives us eternal life based on His foreordained choice and call.  We are in hyper-need of Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior and Deliverer.  We need His Spirit in our hearts.  God's Spirit is only in the hearts of His people.  We have separated ourselves from God because of our personal sins.  The only hope is not being saved through purgatory, but the very Cross of our God and Redeemer Jesus Christ.  At the Cross He forgives, cleanses, removes our sins.  We can receive the free gift of everlasting life only through grace by faith alone in empty hands of faith.  Faith is an instrument and means by which we apprehend Christ our Master and Friend.  Jesus proclaimed that apart of Him we can do nothing.  We must be grounded and rooted in Christ alone.  We ought also to walk by the Spirit.  Some Christians do not walk by the Spirit.  Are you walking by the Spirit of Christ?  Do you seek to abide in Christ?  That is, do you read the Bible, attend church, pray regularly and evangelize the lost in a dark world?  We ought to abide in Christ and bear much fruit.  Do you see evidence in your life that you are bearing fruit of the Holy Ghost?  Or, do you bear the fruit of the works of the flesh?  Your assurance of salvation is weakened in mind and testimony when you commit deeds of the flesh!  However, if you walk in the Spirit of God and bear much fruit you will have a greater sense of assurance of salvation. 

Do Redeemed People Go To Hell?

There was an online article that said that the Catholic teaching that that everyone is redeemed but everyone is not saved.  The saved are the people of Roman Catholicism, and the saved have to have faith as a Catholic would.  Pope Francis made it seem like all the "redeemed" will also be in heaven even hateful atheists!  According to this article, it said that Judas (one of the twelve) was redeemed by the blood of Christ but it stated that he is suffering in hell because he was not saved.  I have seen Catholic theologians disagree that Judas is in hell!  The Catholics think that those in purgatory will enter heaven and be saved.
     The Bible teaches that the redeemed go to heaven.  Someone who is damned and in hell was never redeemed to begin with.   Everyone of the elect will be redeemed.  All of the saved are redeemed, and all of the redeemed are saved.  If a person is redeemed, their sins are forgiven.   If their sins are forgiven, they are saved and will be assured of heaven by His Spirit and Word!  Lets mediate on the written Word of God on the redeemed being saved:

Psalm 31:5 KJV

Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.

Galatians 3:13 KJV

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

1 Peter 1:18 KJV

Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;

Revelation 5:9 KJV

And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; 
Romans 3:24 KJV

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

1 Corinthians 1:30 KJV

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

Ephesians 1:7 KJV

In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

Ephesians 1:14 KJV

Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 4:30 KJV

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Colossians 1:14 KJV

In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

Hebrews 9:12 KJV

Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Belonging to Christ: A Basic Study of Galatians 5:24, Pt 3

6.  The power of the flesh is a real actuality.  Suppose we found the godliest person who walked with God.  There is no doubt that the best fall into sin, transgression and iniquity.  The Bible says that Noah walked with God and there is no doubt about this; however, when we read the written Word of God we see that even righteous men fall into sin and wickedness and corruption.  David was a man after God's own heart but he fell into adultery and murder.  Noah was a man who walked with God but he became drunk and nude.   The flesh is the enemy within us.  It is our very corruption and wretchedness.  I suggest to you that the sinful nature of man has created false religion; however, there is no doubt that Satan is also behind this evil controversy.  I heard a philosopher say that all world religions are different and that invalidates biblical Christianity, because one cannot tell which religion is credible, believable or reliable.  I suggest to you that the fundamental flaw of this philosopher's understanding is that if a world religion is contrary to the written Scriptures of the OT and NT alone, it has no spiritual credibility for spiritual belief.  The written Scriptures of biblical Christianity is the religious, theological, spiritual, historical and philosopher basis for our Christians beliefs and practice and devotion!  I suggest to you that it is the flesh that is an abomination and desperately wicked and who can comprehend it?  The diversity of world religion is based on the sinful nature of mere man, and Satan is solely concerned about the "interests of men" and not of God.  If you belong to Christ this day, you will realize the power of the flesh because you have been awakened out of spiritual death.  We are not unaware of Satan's schemes because he goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour!  However, we must comprehend the nature of the flesh.  If we understand the nature of the flesh, we will beware of its attacks against the Spirit within us.  There is no doubt that the flesh is a parasite.  The flesh seeks to accomplish diabolical schemes of serving its former master.  The flesh seeks after spiritual ruin and destruction.  The flesh is elusive and lurking and trickery.  The flesh is at work to cause you to reject the God-appointed means of spiritual redemption.  The flesh is the cause of the mess of the difference of the practices and beliefs of world religion under the leadership of Satan.  I suggest to you that if there is a cause for good in this world, why wouldn't there be a cause of evil also?  The gospel delivers us from the penalty and power of evil and sin and disobedience!  We ought to never sin all we want to have remission of sin.  This is called lawlessness!  At the Day of Judgement Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior condemns the lawless ones and accepts the obedient ones.  Under the Lordship of Jesus Christ we are to "follow Him."  We are saved by grace alone and obedience does not merit heaven, but we ought to never neglect demonstrating our Christian faith in a dark world.  We ought to repent and obey the written Word of God, because it alone is infallible and inerrant and inspired.  The Word of God can radical change us.  It is the Word and the Spirit that changes our hearts in sovereign regeneration.  There is no other way to have our hearts changed but by God's way of doing things!  I suggest to you that world religions add to the gospel because they justify sin and an abandonment to radical corruption.  The flesh feels right but according to God's written Word it is not right at all.  The flesh excuses responsibility or accountability.  The flesh loves disobedience and hates the rightful obedience of God's written Word.  The flesh is the basis for ignorance.  It wants to keep you naive.  However, with divine knowledge and wisdom of the written Word of God we can be "sold-out" for our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ!  We should not be "sold-out" to wickedness and destruction.  We ought to be "sold-out" for Jesus Christ and obedience to His written Word.  If we do not understand His Word, we cannot do what is pleasing to Him.  We ought to always do the things that are pleasing to Him alone.  The flesh loves to obey the world because the world is of sin.  Jesus did not pray for the world but for His people.  We ought to always cherish the prayers of Jesus for us.  He intercedes for us in heaven to the Father through His prayers for us.  We gain the cosmic victory through our Lord and Defender and Friend Jesus Christ!

7.  We ought to spiritually understand that the flesh or sinful nature has no difficulty with outward forms of religion.  That is why you see the mess of the difference of views in world religions today.  That is, they do not below to Jesus Christ but they serve their own bellies.  The flesh seeks to avoid fellowship, Sunday worship and weekly devotion.  The flesh seeks to have you fail at every godly thing you undertake.  We should surrender to God and what He demands in His written Word.  It is only when we do this by His grace and Spirit and Word that we will have victory over the flesh.  It is no doubt a cosmic warfare.  It is no doubt an enemy from hell.  We ought to surrender by His design and plan our whole selves to His way: mind, will, spirit and soul.  We ought to never live in our own way and do it our way.  The way of the flesh will perish but the way of Jesus is everlasting life.  The flesh also promises a false hope, a false peace, a false comfort, a false belief and a false forgiveness.  Beware of the sinful nature of man!  The flesh wants to think that everything is "okay" while it is falling to pieces right before your eyes but the problem is, the flesh prohibits you to see it.  True peace is from Jesus but the flesh has a false peace.  Many have this false peace.  Peace comes from the reading of the written Word of God.  The peace of the flesh is a counterfeit peace.   People of world religion "feel" they are right with God; however, no one is right with God but through our only Savior in explicit faith in His name and Cross!  We ought to never serve our "own marching orders."  We are to serve the divine orders of King Jesus alone.  We belong to Jesus and we are not our own!  Some would use the Bible to corrupt our beliefs, because they do not handle it correctly.  The flesh is a master at wrong interpretations of the sacred pages of the divine Word.  The flesh even promotes itself over the divine majesty of God every time you sin it is a cosmic act of idolatry!  The flesh brings us away from King Jesus as our Lord Christ.  I suggest to you that no mere man can master the flesh except by the Word and Spirit alone!  We see in the beginning pages of ancient history the first recorded murder by Cain.  He could not master his sin or rule over it, because he lacked the Spirit and the Word.  Search yourselves and see!  Do you indeed have God's Spirit?  That is, do you know that you belong to God through His eternally begotten Son by His Holy Ghost?  May God help you conquer your sinful nature through His Word and Spirit!  Amen.

A Defense of the Glad Tidings of Christ: A Short Response to a Romanist Apologist Scott Windsor on Purgatory, Pt 2

The subject in this "discussion" or "disagreement" is the Catholic understanding of purgatory and divine forgiveness.  The gospel is compromised with the Catholic understanding of purgatory.  That is, the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior is radically rendered insufficient to save.  It is nothing but the blood of Jesus Christ that forgives and washes away our sins.  I suggest to you that once you add to the perfect work of Jesus Christ at His Cross, you are proclaiming "another gospel" altogether!  There is but one gospel and it is all about the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ my Lord and Defender.  We see in the New Testament that the apostle Paul speaks of "another gospel" that cannot save a human soul in Galatians 1:

 ⁶ I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; ⁷ which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! (Galatians 1:6-8 NASB).

Many have converted to Roman Catholicism because it is of the flesh or the sinful nature.  The flesh demands us to have a different gospel.  It wants to serve its former master.  It wants to pay for the spiritual debt that only Jesus Christ can pay for at His awesome Cross.  Surely no one in the New Testament knew of the description of purgatory, but I suggest to you that if you study the Cross you will find in Him your "all in all."  The day you find in Jesus your "all in all" you will know Him as your Savior and Lord.  However, purgatory is an addition to the gospel that makes it a different gospel.  It disturbs the Christian mind as if there is a purgatory that offers a redemptive suffering that takes away sin when the Cross is the only all-sufficient fountain upon which we are forgiven and cleansed of our sins, transgressions and iniquities!  Why do you want to add to the Cross when the whole Bible is silent on this subject?  I suggest to you that it is your man-made thinking, invention and personal inference that has invented this foul doctrine that adds to the Cross of the all-efficacious, all-necessary and all-sufficient  Lamb of God.  I suggest to you that Rome has fallen for visions of the foul adversary of Jesus' kingdom.  It is like the old prophet of the Old Testament that lied to the man of God about a word of knowledge about God's revelation and lied about the angel's visitation to him.  I suggest to you that purgatory is a lie from the very pit of hell and it is "another gospel" that suggests there is "another way" besides Jesus and His holy Cross!  

I believe preaching, teaching and apologetics all have an interaction.  I have never posted false information on theological or apologetical doctrine but you see things through the idolatry of Romanism.  That means we will disagree on doctrine!  Jesus came to bring division not peace, and He is glorified when His divine truth from His Word exposes your falsehood.  That is, you reject the all-sufficiency of the Cross and embrace the "muddled theology" of a system of thought that is completely contrary to the written Word of God.  I pray for you, I really do.  I pray that you reject Romanism not because I say so but because of the divine Scriptures.  I suggest to you that you do not "understand" the written Word of God correctly nor the power of God because of your "man-made" traditions.  You see things through your "infallible" tradition that is not "infallible"!  I do not mean to change the subject but expose the very basis for your hermeneutical approach to the divine Word that is in serious question.  Here is a clear example of the unholy rejection of the all-sufficient merits of Jesus Christ:

Christ’s redemptive activity finds its apogee in the death of sacrifice on the cross. On this account it is by excellence but not exclusively the efficient cause of our redemption....No one can be just to whom the merits of Christ’s passion have not been communicated. It is a fundamental doctrine of St. Paul that salvation can be acquired only by the grace merited by Christ (Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma (Rockford: Tan, 1974), pp. 185, 190).

And again we read,

What did Christ's suffering and death actually accomplish that allowed the Father to provide the human race with salvation? Did Christ take within himself the sin and guilt of mankind and suffer the specific punishment for that sin and guilt, as Protestants contend? The answer is no...Christ did not take upon himself the entire punishment required of man for sin. Rather, Scripture teaches only that Christ became a 'propitiation,' a 'sin offering,' or a 'sacrifice' for sins...Essentially, this means that Christ, because he was guiltless, sin-free and in favor with God, could offer himself up as a means of persuading God to relent of his angry wrath against the sins of mankind. Sin destroys God's creation. God, who is a passionate and sensitive being, is angry against man for harming the creation. Anger against sin shows the personal side of God, for sin is a personal offense against him. We must not picture God as an unemotional courtroom judge who is personally unharmed by the sin of the offender brought before him. God is personally offended by sin and thus he needs to be personally appeased in order to offer a personal forgiveness. In keeping with his divine principles, his personal nature, and the magnitude of the sins of man, the only thing that God would allow to appease him was the suffering and death of the sinless representative of mankind, namely, Christ (Robert Sungenis, Not By Faith Alone (Santa Barbara: Queenship, 1997), pp. 107-108).

And we read on purgatory,

 The doctrine of purgatory clearly demonstrates that even when the guilt of sin has been taken away, punishment for it or the consequences of it may remain to be expiated and cleansed. They often are. In fact, in purgatory the souls of those 'who died in the charity of God and truly repentant, but who had not made satisfaction with adequate penance for their sins and omissions' are cleansed after death with punishments designed to purge away their debt...Following in Christ’s steps, those who believe in him have always tried to help one another along the path which leads to the heavenly Father, through prayer, the exchange of spiritual goods and penitential expiation. The more they have been immersed in the fervor of love, the more they have imitated Christ in his sufferings. They have carried their crosses to make expiation for their own sins and the sins of others. They were convinced that they could help their brothers to obtain salvation from God who is the Father of mercies. This is the very ancient dogma called the Communion of Saints...The “treasury of the Church” is the infinite value, which can never be exhausted, which Christ’s merits have before God. They were offered so that the whole of mankind could be set free from sin and attain communion with the Father. In Christ, the Redeemer himself, the satisfactions and merits of his Redemption exist and find their efficacy. This treasury includes as well the prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are truly immense, unfathomable and even pristine in their value before God. In the treasury, too, are the prayers and good works of all the saints, all those who have followed in the footsteps of Christ the Lord and by his grace have made their lives holy and carried out the mission the Father entrusted to them. In this way they attained their own salvation and at the same time cooperated in saving their brothers in the unity of the Mystical Body...God’s only-begotten Son... has won a treasure for the militant Church... he has entrusted it to blessed Peter, the key-bearer of heaven, and to his successors who are Christ’s vicars on earth, so that they may distribute it to the faithful for their salvation. They may apply it with mercy for reasonable causes to all who have repented for and have confessed their sins. At times they may remit completely, and at other times only partially, the temporal punishment due to sin in a general as well as in special ways (insofar as they judge it to be fitting in the sight of the Lord). The merits of the Blessed Mother of God and of all the elect ... are known to add further to this treasure (Paul VI, Indulgentiarum Doctrina, January 1, 1967).

I suggest to you that once someone is cleansed from sin, they can never lose their "state of grace" or "state of justification."  No doubt it is surely theologically related.  You come from a theological view point that says mortal sin can take away the state of grace and someone can die impurely.  I suppose the "fires of purgatory" could not help that person.  I suggest to you that you believe a false gospel, because once someone knows Christ, He cannot be unknown.  I see you have invited me to a Catholic Debate forum; however, I am pretty sure I am unable to do that in light of my current appointments.  Thank you anyway for your invitation.

The sorry state of Romanism is the fact that you claim "salvation" after death.  In the past when I was a Roman Catholic I attended Mass everyday, but Jesus was not in my heart.  I fear for you that you will not be ready to stand before a holy and just God who demands absolute perfection.  I found in comparison with Rome's way of preaching (off to the left or to the right concerning the pulpit) to be insufficient and unprepared and thoroughly man-centered.  I notice in Reformed preaching is about the centrality and supremacy of the written Word of God so it may change the stoney hearts of the sons and daughters of Adam.  There is no one saved through purgatory because there is no purgatory.  I know a Greek Orthodox monk who does not believe in purgatory.  There is disagreement there.  I suggest to you that the punishment for all sin was placed upon Jesus Christ at His Cross and not in the "fires of purgatory."  God mercifully justifies sinners through Jesus my Lord and Savior,

Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom. 3:24-26).

Justification is a gift of God through His blessed grace.  Redemption is only through and in Christ alone.  He propitiated the sins of all of the elect through His shed blood by faith.  He gave us His righteousness through simple child-like trust in Him.

And again we read on His blessed atonement,

For as many as are the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law to perform them.’ Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, ‘The righteous man shall live by faith.’ However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, ‘He who practices them shall live by them.’ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’ (Gal. 3:10–13).

But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed. For the demonstration I say of His righteousness at the present time that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the Law (Rom. 3:21–28).

Watson says nothing contrary to what your foul doctrine already states!  You state that nothing pure can enter heaven but how do you become pure through man-made foolishness?  Are you really suggesting to me that there is another way to be pure than the Cross of Jesus Christ?  Why do you compromise the Cross?  The Bible says it is a matter of the flesh.  The flesh wants to suffer for sin to make satisfaction for our spiritual crimes, because it seeks to promote itself above that which God has written in His Word.  I suggest to you in a careful reading of the written Word of God that you are simply ignorant of the power of the Cross.  There is no Scriptural support for your thinking on "paradise" and "heaven."  I disagree that the thief passage on the Cross meant that he would be with Jesus sometime in the future.  I would like to point out that none of the early father interpreted the Bible in that particular verse like presently do (Leo the Great, Chrysostom, Origen, Prudentius, Ephrem the Syrian, Cyril of Jerusalem, Ambrose, Augustine, and Jerome (Just and Oden, ACCOS, NT III, Luke, pg. 365-367).  It is incredible that you would use the same argument that many Jehovah's Witnesses use against evangelical Christians, because they say ("since the word "Trinity" is not in the Bible, it is not taught).  Are you serious?  I suggest to you that the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity is far greater and wider in its scope than purgatory.  It is a outrageous to even equal the two, because the Blessed Trinity is found on almost every sacred page of the Bible while purgatory is a personal inference.  The verses you cite do not support purgatory.  I am not ignorant of the early fathers because I did my master's thesis on Peter and the fathers.  I am well informed about them, but I suggest to you that you are thoroughly dumb (or ignorant) regarding the sacred Word.  The fathers do not support purgatory and it is your prejudiced thinking that heaps the view upon them.  Your view comes from a false understanding of religious and theological authority.  That's the only reason why you support purgatory.  I would like to ask a question on authority that is related to all doctrine for that matter.  Tell me, who do you believe?  Do you believe the Pope that someone redeemed and yet hates Christ can enter heaven if they do "good"?  Or, do you believe the Vatican that only those in the Roman church are saved?  Surely your allegiance does not lay with Jesus but a man-centered church that is against Christ!

The Bible teaches that the soul is sinless or clean but the body sins.  I know in my personal testimony that I am covered with the divine covering of divine righteousness. That is, I am right with God through my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Now I am in sanctification that is the pursuit of holiness.  You get your teaching from wrong books of the Bible, because there is nothing of it in the OT or NT.  I will happily provide responses to the verses you have displayed elsewhere at another time.  I am confident in the Scriptures interpreting the Scripture.  That is, Scripture in light of Scripture.  It is surely related to this subject and a good hermeneutic.

I have six degrees and two certificates, but I am learning more and more.  I hope to go back to school if the Lord permits but if I don't get a chance to go back now or never do, I can always fulfill this wish in heaven and learn more there!  However, I earned my doctorate at 24 at St. Andrew's Theological College and Seminary.  It is a Doctorate of Theology (DTh) in Orthodox Studies with honors!  Its run by the Orthodox Anglican church and they allowed me to do a study on the Reformed doctrines of the Bible.  Here is their web site www.divinityschool.org. My dissertation was 531-pages and I enjoyed it with lots of coffee.  :-)  I want to go back and study again at the doctorate level but right now I do not have the money.  I am praying to go back as a Reformed Baptist but I also hope to study various things at the graduate level elsewhere at a Reformed academy.

I surely understand redemptive suffering and only Jesus accomplished this!  It is the flesh that promotes its extreme arrogance that it can contribute to spiritual redemption.  This is why I call you to repentance, but your allegiance is to Rome now.  I surrendered my soul to Jesus Christ and He will surely take me home to Himself.  I do not need purgatory but the purging of the Cross alone in a redemptive sense.  I wish you knew the far exceeding riches of the Cross of Jesus Christ like I do.

I do not believe according to the written Word of God that "imputation" is merely a word that can be interchanged with "infusion" and have it mean what "infusion" means in the theological doctrine of justification by faith alone.  The Bible clearly teaches "imputation" and it is how God works freely to give His people His unified merit of Jesus Christ alone by faith alone.

I have also seen your post on the "Five Solas" but I believe my initial presentation of God's awesome doctrines of grace stand as it is and need no response.  I will also write more on the divine doctrines of grace when I have the time. 

May the grace and peace of my Lord Jesus be with you and help you!  

Belonging to Christ: A Basic Study of Galatians 5:24, Pt 2

4.   The sinful nature is seeking to dominate the whole of the Christian life.  Remember the battle of sin in victory over it is a matter of the honor of Christ.  The Christian life is a battle and a struggle.  We already possess the unified imputed merit of our Lord and Defender Jesus Christ as the grounds for how we are right with God.  That is, we are justified through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  There is no other way to be justified than by His perfect, clean and sinless divine righteousness.  We struggle to serve our holy and awesome King and Redeemer because of sin in our lives.  If someone sins, we have an Advocate with our Heavenly Father who is Jesus Christ the Righteous!  We ought to battle for sin in the most extreme sense to put it to death in a practical sense; however, we are to live as if that is already so!  Sin has been already put to death in a legal sense for the Christian life.  God has provided us with a defense of divine holiness!  We ought to be holy people because our Heavenly Father is holy.  In fact, the angelic chorus sings "holy, holy, holy."  We ought to remember that we should imitate God by being holy.  I suggest to you that none of us should have an idolatrous spirit and seek to rise above God.   There is one God revealed in three distinct persons: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  There is no god besides the Three in One and One in Three.  There are battle we must win that take place everyday of our lives.  Do we show ultimate allegiance to God's holiness and divine character in the small details of our Christian life?  I suggest to you that everyone falls short.  I myself feel surely convicted over the small details of the Christian life.  I hope you also feel convicted to repent and believe the glad tidings of the Christ who saves to the uttermost!  Do we serve material things over the service of God and holy things?  Do you see yourself repenting of past sin, present sin and future sin?  Are you persistent in the things of God and reading the divine Word?  Do you cheer more for your football team than the victory of Christ in the local church?  Do you give more attention to the things of this world than the attention of the written Scriptures?  Do you spend more time reading a novel than praying the Valley of Vision?  Do you accept what newspapers say automatically but not the promises of the Word of God?  Do you speak to your friends without forgetting what to say but in prayer you fail to mention things to pray for?  Do you gossip rather than explain the gospel to a lost friend?  Do you lack time to attend a prayer meeting but not seeing a movie?  Do you witness to the lost if he was a total stranger?  Are you concerned about what others think about you rather than what God thinks about you?  Are you believing the promises of Christ but refuse to serve in the local church?  These are things to think about.

5.  We ought to understand that in our flesh nothing good dwells.  That is, there is nothing spiritually there to be something good that avails the redemptive power of God.  You must understand that God does not delight in us because there is nothing good in us.  We do not do the things that are good but we choose to do the things that are sinful.  Do you seek to do what is right?  Do you consent to the sinful nature or the flesh so easily without a spiritual fight?  You must take up the Word of God!  You must fight the good fight!  This is the time to stand up for Jesus Christ!  Stand!  Stand and fight!  Do not give in to the flesh!  There is only danger there!  We have a Savior that keeps His own!  We have a Redeemer and Defender that provides us with restraining and redemptive grace through the presence of His elect angels to prevent the power of darkness, sin and Satan from availing!  Stand up for Jesus this day!  Stand and be counted!  To weaken the power of the flesh during temptation I suggest to you that you read the written Word.  It takes the power out of the temptation of the flesh!  Read and study the Word so you are a workman not ashamed.  Have you crucified the flesh?  It is our responsibility to crucify the flesh in progressive sanctification.  Put that sin to death my friends!  Put it to death!  We are in a spiritual battle.  We face this battle this side of heaven.  Sin is ugly.  If we studied the private lives of people we would sin the outward manifestation of the ugliness of sin, but what of the spiritual heart of a Christian?  Does not a Christian repent and turn from his sin?  Surely he does if he is a Christian!  Turn away from your sin and focus in faith on the Cross of Jesus!  The battle is bloody, the battle is relentless and the battle is painful.  The flesh wants you to think you can earn your spiritual salvation.  It wants you to think you can in someway merit heaven.  The Holy Spirit says in His written Word that the ONLY WAY to heaven is THROUGH our Savior Jesus Christ.  We must fight the spiritual dragon within our souls.  But Jesus comes and sets us free!  The gospel is the power of God unto spiritual redemption and there is nothing more powerful than the gospel.   We must trust Jesus and "follow Him."  Do you trust and follow Jesus?  You have fallen into sin but His love will not fail you.  The very Cross of Jesus Christ is powerful: it forgives and cleanses and provides us with grace.  The Cross is a place of virtue, merit, righteousness, peace, godliness, uprightness and holiness.  We have new life in Christ where the spiritual dragon of the soul cannot harm us because we are divinely secure, preserved and kept by His mighty hand.  We must understand that our Lord Jesus has defeated the flesh through the work of the Cross.  He overcame its rule over us.  He weakened its power over us.  He killed its root over us.  We will not bear fruit of eternal death because Jesus has put sin to death by the death of the Cross.  The Cross provides us with the promise of eternal and divine and cosmic victory! It is God's holy will that His people bear much fruit.  We must take warfare seriously and gab the flesh by the throat!  It still has that lurking evil to harm us in life and take away blessings, but we must be rooted in God's holy Word.

The Written Word of God Forbids "Orgies": Repent and Believe the Gospel

The Christian life should not involve orgies.  That is, it is when people openly engage in sexual activity.  Sexual activity is only for the marriage bed left undefiled between a man and a woman alone.  The work of the flesh or the sinful nature is a work of orgies.  I have seen Christians practicing this behavior as they profess Christ. 

I have seen them advance in life and ministry because of their promiscuity.  I am not saying it is the unforgivable sin; however, I am saying the standards of the morality of people has fallen into defilement.  It is the ungodly teaching of Balaam that people advance through wrongdoing.  If you have to do something evil to get something good, Paul's says your condemnation is just in Romans 3.  If you have engaged in orgies to advance yourself in life and compromised your morals, remember to rethink your life and mediate on Jesus.  Think like Jesus, speak like Jesus and do deeds like Jesus.  That is, it simply means do what is right.  God will bless you if you do what is right more than if you do what is wrong.  It is also true that all things are ordained for our good. 

We ought to remember: sin is not the means of the approval of God or His people.  Rather righteous living is what God blesses.  Dreams should not be granted because of sexual evil, but rather the upright living of God's elect.  I mention this because I think it is a real problem in today's culture.   It might not be a problem for some people but I feel it has come into the sacred place of the local church.  All it takes is obedience to the commandments of Christ and repentance in Jesus' name.  It should not be practiced to sin just to easily repent again because the God-man who died for you is trodden under foot!  Think more highly of your Savior next time you willfully sin!  I suggest to you that this is the sacred problem of the Gospel: Jesus was given all the spiritual sin while we get His free grace, but He is willing to be forgiving.  I am not saying God does not forgive willful sin: He does, but we should live cautiously and walk worthy of the Gospel.

Mediate on these Scriptures below to comprehend the works of the flesh and how true Christians have nothing to do with it.  There is no doubt that somewhere along the lines everyone has failed and fallen into sin.  You ought to renew your obedience, repent and believe the gospel.  "Trust and obey."  "Repent and obey."  Grace and peace!


Romans 13:13 ESV

Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.

Galatians 5:19-21 ESV 

¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, ²¹ envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Peter 4:3 ESV

For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.

The False "Good News" of the Current Pope

I choose to write this not because I hate the pope or atheists but because there needs to be a sacred voice to the divine integrity of the Holy Scriptures but the Scriptures are divinely inspired devoid of anyone; however, I know everyone has the religious freedom to speak their views and that means I also have religious freedom to present what the Bible truly teaches. 

Atheists are born in original sin and commit actual transgressors like all of us; that is, humanity is born totally depraved and radically corrupt.  The Bible says in Romans 3 and Psalm 53 that none are good and human beings commit abominable iniquity.  Humans sin continually and no one is righteous.  The Bible also says that if someone says there is no God, he is a indeed a fool.  That is, an "unbeliever."

The claim was made that the blood of Jesus has redeemed the atheist without explicit faith in the divine Savior and Lord.  The verse the pope gives is completely unfounded in its application to atheists!  I suggest to you that the denial of grace alone, faith alone and Christ alone is the error here.  Moreover, he interprets the Bible with eyes of a man-made tradition of modified universalism.  However, the Bible teaches that mankind is to explicitly believe in Jesus for spiritual redemption (cf. Acts 4:12).  No one has the spiritual ability to perform works of satisfaction for redemption.  We do not cooperate or contribute to our spiritual rebirth or justification.  It is all the work of God the Trinity alone.  The faith we receive and that justifies from the Spirit and the Word is not from anything in us but by His work alone.  I suggest to you that "human goodness" that anyone can do is incompatible with God's goodness.  The moment sin enters into the picture it is impossible to please God in and of ourselves.  We do not have the inherit spiritual ability to perform "good works of divine righteousness and redemption" that are without that radical and thorough pollution of abominable transgressions.  Everything we do is tainted with sin.  This is not the case with God: His divine righteousness is perfect and sinless.  The point is, we need His divine righteousness alone as the sole foundation for how we are right with God.  The active obedience of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is what earned the spiritual redemption of keeping the law of God.  I suggest to you that the good an atheist does should be understood as "civil righteousness."  That is, that which is impossible to meet God's standard of absolute perfection.  I suggest to you that only the righteous unified merit of Jesus Christ is the good work of spiritual redemption!  It is the only good work that secures spiritual salvation among the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve!  This is the good news, but it seems like the pope is saying that their good deeds will outdo their bad deeds like a Muslim.  I suggest to you that there is nothing so precious as the perfect work and person of our Lord and Deliverer Jesus Christ!  Humans need His perfect imputed or accounted unified righteousness alone by faith alone and this is how someone is right with God.  It does not come from anything but the Spirit and the Word that spiritually applies redemption to us.  May God help the pope and others see the divine truth of the written Scriptures alone and not man-made tradition!  Amen.

^"for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls...."  (Romans 9:11 NASB).

Belonging to Christ: A Basic Study of Galatians 5:24

1.  If we belong to Christ, He has taken our sin upon Himself alone at the Cross.  He bore all our sin and punishment at the Cross on Calvary.  We have a new nature in Christ once the Spirit enables us to believe and repent according to the Gospel of God.  We could not believe and repent according to the Gospel without a new heart from God's Spirit and Word.  That is, He gives us a heart of flesh and takes our a heart of stone.  He gives a contrite spirit and a humble spirit.  He makes us have a new spiritual disposition.  But the Christian life is a fierce battle between the Spirit and the flesh.  The Spirit is opposed to the flesh and the flesh is opposed to the Spirit.  It is said in the OT that even righteous men sin.  There is no escaping the sin of our nature except in the Cross of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  Sin is not completely done away with but we must wage war against it to live right with God.  There is no compromise in this spiritual war.  It takes the Cross of Jesus Christ our Redeemer to defeat sin.  Good works do not take away sin, but only the remission, forgiveness and cleansing of the Cross of our divine Savior.  I suggest to you that the atonement of our Redeemer Jesus Christ is what takes away sin.  It is the only way we can be pure.  We can't be pure through human effort or works of satisfaction or meritorious works or willing to do good deeds.  We can only be pure by the very Cross of Jesus Christ our holy Deliverer!  But as Christians we ought to walk and live by the Spirit of God.  This should be a primary pleasure.  We ought to please God to walk by the Spirit and the Word.  However, the flesh seeks to "pull us away" from God-honoring living.  The flesh is the beast within or a great monster of sin.  The war is wage on our hearts.  We can overcome by contrite repentance; however, some would seek to discourage other Christians because they fall into sin.  There is not anyone on planet earth that is inherently righteous or good or moral, but everyone has fallen short of God's standard.  No one is good and no one is righteous in and of themselves.  In fact, everyone sins; however, the difference in mankind about sin is the degree of sin.  If a person thinks they are sinless, they are deceived.  Everyone has committed abominable iniquity.  No one is just.  We need something to help us.  We need an act of God to declare us righteous.  The Cross is the only work of the God-man to forgive and pardon our sins.  There is nothing else that takes away sin but the Cross of the divine and spotless Lamb of God.

2.  Sometimes we walk in the Spirit and sometimes we walk in the flesh.  However, we ought to yield to the Spirit of God by His awesome and divine and holy grace!  Sin effects our attitude and actions and thoughts and words and deeds.  Sin taints everything we do.  However, the Spirit lives within us to give us the ability to have victory over sin, but if we should fell we have repentance unto the forgiveness of sins through the Cross of our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ.  No one else supplied atonement for sin in human history but our Lord and Savior.  There is no one suitable to meet the divine requirement for divine satisfaction for justice than our Savior and Redeemer and Deliverer Jesus Christ.  If we walk by the Spirit we will have the demonstration of the fruits of the work of Christ in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  However, if we live by the flesh we will possess immorality, jealousy, anger and idolatry.  But all of these sins are forgivable through the Cross.  None of these sins could outdo the Cross of our divine Scapegoat.  For all of those who truly believe by His Spirit, all of these sins are atoned for, but we ought to remember to live by the Spirit and Word.  Do we rest on the Spirit of God?  Do we ask God to change us wholly and so we would never be the same through His awesome Word?  If we practice sin, if we rebel in sin, we are not truly born again; however, if we sin and repent according to the divine glad tidings of grace we demonstrate that we are truly His.  However, if we practice the things of Satan we surely will not inherit the kingdom of God.  But if we practice repentance unto remission and faith towards our Lord Jesus we have nothing to dread or fear.  Can we observe God's fruit in our lives?  Do we see a holy manifestation of repentance and faith?  Do we redeem the time?  I suggest to you that none of these things are prescriptive but these things of God are descriptive!  Christians will find themselves sinning, but it does not mean we should give into sin.  We ought to wage war against sin.  We ought to fight the good fight of faith!  We are aware of our sin through the intercession of the Spirit of God.  Do you read God's Word?  If so, it will search your heart and you will become aware of sin.  Do you listen to sermons?  If so, you will find sin in your life to repent of.  We will never stop repenting until the moment of death.

3.  The flesh is the sinful nature of man.  We are totally depraved, radically corrupt, mortally wounded, thoroughly polluted, abominable in thought, word and deed, and we sin continually.  Apart from the Cross of Jesus Christ our Lord and Friend there is simply no hope.  However, many world religions today speak of a false hope but none know the Savior!  There is a false peace.  Peace is proclaimed but it is no peace at all. We are conceived in original sin.  It is from the fall of Adam.  No one is perfect and that is our spiritual problem.  We have sinned against a holy and just God.  The Cross gives the sinful nature a spiritual "death blow"!  And He gives us a new heart and a new nature.  He gives us hope, life, joy and peace.  He gives us faith, focus, confidence and love.  We ought to love the divine Cross of Jesus Christ and His shed blood.  It is the shed blood of Jesus Christ at His Cross where we are pardoned from our radical sin.  Sin is so thorough in our lives that the Bible says if we have broken one commandment we have broken them all.  But the Spirit of God lives within us, and greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.  We live and walk under the divine lordship of our Lord and Deliverer Jesus Christ!  God is our Heavenly Father!  Jesus Christ intercedes for us through His Spirit.  We are eternally His forever.  No one can take us away from Him.  We cannot take ourselves from Him and no creature can remove His loving outstretched arms at His bloody Cross.  We are new creations in, through, by and from Jesus Christ!  We still have a remaining corruption in ourselves that wages war against the Spirit of goodness and preservation and endurance!  The sinful nature or the flesh moves us against the Spirit of righteousness, holiness, uprightness and godliness.  We must not give up or give in to the flesh.  Sometimes, I suggest to you, we mess up and fall into small or great sin.  I submit to you that there is no sin so great that the Cross cannot forgive or pardon.  There is no sin so small as to jeopardize your eternal security.  Nothing in all creation can take us away from the love of God.  There are some people who say that a greater degree of sin can remove God's loving and caring love for us.  I suggest to you that they are simply mistaken, because they do not know the divine Scripture or the power of God!  Beloved, there is no sin that can remove God's loving hand at the Cross.  Those who possess the Cross by simple child-like trust have eternal security.  We are kept by God the Trinity forever!  However, there is a serious and real struggle in the war between the flesh and the Spirit.   I suggest to you that there is no sin that heaven cannot forgive but that does not mean we should indulge the flesh or abuse grace, but I suggest to you the divine riches of the Cross for your consideration!  Yes, it is true that even abusing grace is forgivable through our Savior's shed blood!  We all know what is right and wrong.  We were created in the image of God but it is a shattered image because of sin.  We ought to understand the negative consequences of sin.  God will chasten us if we sin.  It is a very serious matter; however, that does not mean He does not love you anymore.  He still loves you when you sin because while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.  And there is the divine truth of the blessings of obedience.  God surely blesses us when we obey and when we repent.  If you have started repentance, keep going.  Make sure it contrite repentance, because fear of punishment is not the right disposition for asking for forgiveness.  We ought to have our ultimate goal as pleasing to God.  All of us should seek to please God.  There is always a way out if we sin through His Cross in repentance towards the holy forgiveness of sins.  The Christian life is difficult.  It is not for those who do not seek to posses faith and repentance that works through love.  The Christian life is a life of obedience.  It is a life of faithfulness.  You ought to love faithfulness towards God.  It ought to be what describes you.  I suggest to you that faithfulness to God involves repentance but also knowing that sin has been put to death.