13 Responses to “July 21, 2009”

1. Bill Fawcett
   July 21st, 2009 @ 4:25 pm

   Salvation is demonstrated by a change of heart – you turn from sin (repent) and head in the other direction.
   We should never struggle about IF we are saved. If we have been soundly converted, we will know. We can have assurance of salvation. Disciples of Jesus live for Him on a daily basis. We may fall, but we seek forgiveness and move on – towards Him.
   Those who live in habitual sin demonstrate that they are not living for Jesus. Jesus is not their Lord. God grants us free will and we can, in effect, refuse to be saved. If you reject God he will reject you. God is not mocked.
   Consider these scriptures:
   1 Cor 6:9-10
   Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
   James 4:4
   Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
   Galatians 5:19-21
   Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

   Living in habitual sin is not a good place to be. Its sort of like crucifying Christ all over again (I didn’t make that up). The consequences, both here and eternity, are really nasty.
   To the woman involved in an adulterous relationship:

   Please, you need to get out of it. You need to change. You know in your heart this is true. The cry of the Lord is:
   “Today if you hear his voice
   do not harden your heart.”
   Understand that the Lord is not going to call you out of your sin without giving you the power to do so. If you put your trust in him, it will work out. If you cannot put your trust in him, you will be in a sorry place.
   I know you know that this is true- or you would not have asked your question in the first place. I and many other are praying for you. That awful weight that you are feeling now is called conviction. It’s a God thing. It is not going to leave until you turn. Now you must act. It is not hopeless, you can escape, now please tell the Lord that you want to.

2. Michael
   July 21st, 2009 @ 9:44 pm

   Wow, that guy who called in to argue for ‘once saved always saved’ spoke a load of incredible nonsense!  His arguments are no better than someone being married to their spouse while cheating with someone else and trying to convince themself and their spouse that they do no wrong because the cheating isn’t true love.  They deny the truth for personal gratification.  Jesus said “if you love me you will keep my commandments”.  People always seem to manipulate the Word to make excuses for sin.  I know lots of Calvinists that do this, but not just Calvinists.  Thanks for standing against this guy Dr. Brown and speaking the Truth!  His interpretation of Scripture is common everywhere now and is greatly damaging the Church.   I think that guy is in denial and has weeded out Scripture relating to consequences of habitual sin, as if it doesn’t apply to ‘believers’.  It seemed this way because he immediately ignored Scripture you pointed to him regarding warnings against habitual sin.

3. Grace Southern
   July 21st, 2009 @ 10:37 pm

   What about the sin?  Eccl 7:20?  I believe what you say is correct to a point, but  I sin regularly, not habitually.  That’s why I needed Jesus Christ to die for me, because I cannot keep myself.  Only He can keep me.  Many Christians sin habitually, and try to bring me down with them.  They are stumbling blocks to me.  To this point I agree.  How should I understand the sin in my life?  It’s not habitual, but sin is in me.  I believe He died for all of my sins.  I cannot save myself.  “If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.” 1 John 1:10  Please help me understand.  If we try to keep ourselves isn’t that legalism?  I really don’t know, because your arguement is valid, so if you could explain these concerns of mine, I would be ever so grateful.  grace

4. Bill Fawcett
   July 22nd, 2009 @ 7:17 am

   During the program with the angry pastor, I and a freind were working in the office. When the break came, I looked at my friend and said “Wow.”  When Dr. Brown returned to the air, he said “Wow.”  It was a “Wow” moment.

   I was strongly impressed then, and more now, that this over-the-top outburst was something more than a simple doctrinal disagreement. I have been able to peacefully co-exist with my OSAS brethren for many years without resorting to words like “blasphemey” and “heretic.”

   So why the timing? With the GBW event coming up this weekend, there is nothing that satan would like to do but cause division in the camp and keep people who might have participated away.

   Many in the church have waved their imaginary swords and claimed they were doing spiritual warfare. Wrong. THIS is spiritual warfare, plain and simple. 

   Please join me in fasting and praying for this event and  for the radio shows this week (esp. Thursday). 

5. Bill Fawcett
   July 22nd, 2009 @ 7:29 am

   Grace Southern,

   If a child wants to please its earthly father is that legalism? No, that’s relationship and love. There are many calls to  Holiness in the bible that suggest that some conscious decision on our part might be required.  We are told (figuratively) to “Wash our robes..”   Over and over we are told to “turn” or “repent.”

   I want to empahsise this directional aspect. We are told toi “flee from sin.” We are given the example of Lot’s wife, who was told to not look back.

   The “effort” required is to head yourself in the right direction. Do you love God with all your heart? Do you want to allow him to sanctify (cause you to grow in holiness) your life?  If you will mare a determination – “Yes, I want to turn in this direction” God is faithful. You can have victory over sin that “so easily besets us”  and not get trapped by legalism.  As God places the desire to please him (which I belive he has done) and as you make the decision to follow Him rather than gratify your own desires, it will happen.

   May God bless you!

   -Bill

6. Michael
   July 22nd, 2009 @ 11:07 am

   Grace, definitely everyone sins regularly, whether we want to admit it or not (these include sins of negligence and other not so obvious sins).  As believers, the focus however should be how we feel about these sins in our lives, and what steps are we taking to overcome them to please Lord Jesus and imitate Him.  When I spoke of habitual sin, I was referring to the extreme view that some people believe they have a license to sin as long as they claim Jesus.  They don’t truly have the desire to turn from obvious sin.  They block out piercing Scripture that interrupts their specific sins, yet hold fast to general passages of salvation like John 3:16 without considering the context.  For example, in John 3:16, they fail to even consider what “believes in Him” means.  If someone truly “believes in Him”, they believe EVERYTHING Jesus taught and warned against and they follow Him in obedience and are repentant of their sin.  I’m not saying that believers can’t disobey Jesus, but they will have the desire to turn from their sin and follow Him when they realize their sin.  Also, many of the people having extreme ‘once saved always saved/license to sin’ views often like to quickly point out how they refuse to be legalistic like a Pharisee.  The only time someone needs to be concerned about being legalistic is when they don’t know the Lord personally and are living self-righteously.  Working out your salvation is not legalistic, but Biblical (Phillipians 2:12-13).   You do so out of reverential love for God.

7. dave
   July 24th, 2009 @ 5:00 am

   absolutely if you get born again your going to heaven  no matter what happens    if you enter into the convenant with God and he gives you the gift of Eternal Life  thats forever  yes if you dont really convert you need to do that ,  jack deere says on the matter  that there are about 15 scriptures that talk about the salvation experience, how it is forever and that none of those scriptures are reversible   it makes sense   how can your spirit be recreated one day then the next not be     he also spoke how the scripture i know who are mine and no man can take them out of my hand    he says that the no man includes us     

8. dave
   July 24th, 2009 @ 6:07 am

   the reason 4 believing this is about God, the covenant,  that we r not on probation   that we become part of a family forever    that he will never leave us or forsake us    believing that doesnt make you want to sin but the opposite  

9. Michael
   July 24th, 2009 @ 10:18 am

   Dave,
   I would take extreme caution in simply saying “if you get born again your going to heaven no matter what”.  Please keep in mind that the Scriptures do talk of some who fall away from the faith, not to mention the parable of the sower, especially where some seed grew among the thorns and got choked out later in life.  It’s the “no matter what” part of your comment that gets people confused, as some use this as a license to sin.  It is true that God knows which people are His, but some who call themselves believers and had a born again experience while they live in an unchanging sinful life have no right to pretend they are His.  If they have the heart of turning and repenting from sin in response to obeying God, these are the ones who have salvation assurance.  But again, it’s not as simple as saying once someone gets born again, they go to heaven “no matter what”, because many claim they were born again but there is no lasting evidence of the Holy Spirit living in them.  If they are saved, only God knows, but we can’t truly feel comfortable knowing this unless our lives are rich and fruitful in Him.  Hebrews 10:26-27 says “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment…..”  James 1:22 says “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”  Many people who “deceive themselves” fall into the category of “saved no matter what”.  Jesus said that not everyone who says to him ‘Lord, Lord’ will be saved.  When the Holy Spirit is in control of your life, and not your flesh, assurance of salvation is unshakeable.  We should all fear the tendencies of the flesh and constantly take refuge in the Holy Spirit.

10. dave
    July 24th, 2009 @ 11:08 am

    michael i meant to emphiaze the bigness of what takes place when someone recieves christ into there heart  he comes to stay   its unchangable   i believe there is a difference between our yes to the Lord in Salvation and the daily yes we most times say to the lord in following the Holy Spirit     
    Now i did doubt abit at the blot the name out for those who didnot overcome   but then what about the Guy who paul delivered to satan who was still saved   he didnt overcome   and also the matt 7 I never Knew scripture   could be seen as the ones the Lord NEVER knew not the ones he had know at one time      Its amazing how something so significant like eternal security is not clear in the scripture

11. Bill Fawcett
    July 24th, 2009 @ 3:03 pm

    Good resource on this question.

    http://cicministry.org/commentary/issue49.pdf

12. Michael
    July 24th, 2009 @ 10:47 pm

    Like you say Dave, “eternal security is not clear in Scripture”, so that’s why I say it’s dangerous to teach this to everyone, especially those who are not strongly routed in the faith.  I know people and have heard other people who lived rich lives in the Lord, even living years on the mission field, who now do not believe Jesus is who He claimed to be in Scripture or don’t believe in God anymore.  This happens because of various reasons and life circumstances, so it is extremely important to be deeply routed in the faith and understand how God’s Word holds strong against any angle of doubt that may appear in our lives.  We may not have an answer for everything, so that’s why we have to have faith, because without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). 

13. Ben
    August 23rd, 2009 @ 3:11 am

    Dr Brown, thank you for rocking the boat.

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