October 18, 2005
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DO BELIEVERS KNOW THEY ARE JUSTIFIED?
Ryan Eberst — “a man being justified is exactly what i was talking about. believers doubting is a sin, but all the believers sin has already been paid for and the person is therefore justified. its somewhat contradictory still in my mind.”
G’day Ryan,
I agree that Justification is a FORENSIC TRANSACTION. It’s a LEGAL declaration by God that an elect sinner is NOT GUILTY with Christ’s righteousness in his account.
But does God declare the “not guilty” verdict ONLY in heaven, to the angels? Doesn’t He also tell the ungodly sinner that he is NO LONGER under the CURSE of the Law?
John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, The one who hears My Word, and BELIEVES the One who has sent Me, HAS EVERLASTING LIFE, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”
In this verse, you can see God JOINING together BELIEF and JUSTIFICATION. Everyone who believes the facts of the gospel, “does not come into judgment.” Now, according to the Apostle John, this declaration — that believers are justified — is THE WITNESS.
“And this is the witness: that God gave us everlasting life, and this life is in His Son.” (1 John 5:11)
Notice that John uses the word, “us”. He gave “us” — believers — everlasting life. In other words, if someone does NOT know they are a believer, they cannot say, “God have given me / us everlasting life.” They are not confessing full assurance of salvation, like the Apostle John did. They do not have the faith of the Apostles. And anyone without the FAITH OF THE APOSTLES is damned. Peter ONLY wrote to those, who had “obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:1, KJV)
If your assurance does not match that of the Apostles, you are lost. You are calling God a liar. God says that ALL believers will be saved, and you are saying, “I’m a believer, but I do not know that I’m saved.” Well, God says EVERYONE who believes that Christ was risen from the dead IS SAVED (Romans 10). Clearly, you are IGNORANT of this promise.
“The one not believing God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness which God has witnessed concerning His Son.” (1 John 5: 10).
In fact, you are an Atheist. I’m now going to address some comments that Ryan made.
UNBELIEVER = ATHEIST
Ryan Eberst — “… you called me an athiest. and, just for clarification, athiests deny the existance of God entirely. caleb nor i neither one did that. it was an issue of docterine about God’s people that we are disagreement with, not the existance of God Himself.”
Ryan,
The problem is that when someone denies essential doctrine, they are actually denying the existence of God Himself. Have a look at Exodus 32. In this passage, Aaron claimed to be having “a feast to Jehovah” (v5). He thought the people believed in the True God, and were going to offer sacrifices to Him through the calf. And the people were also claiming to believe in the works of God, “And they said, These are your gods, O Israel, who made you go up from the land of Egypt.” The Israelites were claiming to believe that a “God” or “gods” had redeemed them from Egypt. It’s like today, when someone says that they believe “the world had a beginning”, or “a Supreme Being designed the universe.” Muslims, Arminians, and Presbyterians all claim to believe in a “God” who is powerful. So, the Israelites believed that a “Power” or “Powers” had brought them out of Egypt. But as I said before, the problem is that when someone denies essential Biblical doctrines, God calls them an Atheist !!
“And Jehovah spoke to Moses, Come, go down, for your people whom you caused to go up from Egypt are corrupted; … they have made for themselves a casted calf and have bowed to IT, and have sacrificed to IT.”
Jehovah said that the people were NOT acknowledging His existence. ”Deep down”, they did NOT know He existed. “Deep down” they were IGNORANT of Him. They bowed to and sacrificed ONLY to the CALF ( v8 — “bowed to IT and have sacrificed to IT”).
The Israelites CLAIMED to believe in the work of redemption, like the idolaters of the nations claimed to believe in a god. But God calls the idolaters of the nations Atheists, too.
“Gather yourselves and come; draw near together, escaped ones of the nations; the ones who set up the wood of their carved image, and the ones who pray to a god who cannot save; THEY KNOW NOTHING.” (Isa 45: 20)
Just because someone claims to believe in “God” or “gods” or a “Supreme Being” doesn’t mean they know anything about the True God. They have HEARD things about the True God, but since they do not have the Holy Spirit, they do not have the WITNESS or KNOWLEDGE of God. They have only opinions and speculations about something they call “God”. They say things like, “I wonder if there is a God?”, or “Perhaps, I am saved?”. They speculate about this and that, but they do NOT have THE KNOWLEDGE of God.
If, on the other hand, God the Holy Spirit renews their mind, and manifests the AUTHORITY of God in them, THEN they will have knowledge of God. “The one believing in the Son of God has the WITNESS IN HIMSELF.” (1 Jn 5:10). The conviction of the Holy Spirit to the gospel causes an INFALLIBLE ASSURANCE of the truth. “If you have faith as a grain of mustard, you will say to this mountain, Move from here to there! And it will move. And nothing shall be impossible to you.” (Matthew 17:20). Nothing of God’s promise will seem impossible, but the believer will be FULLY PERSUADED. Abraham “did not stagger by unbelief at the promise of God, but was empowered by faith, giving glory to God, and being FULLY PERSUADED that what He has promised, He is also able to do.” (Rom 4:20).
The believer has NO doubt whatsever that the gospel is true. Think about how certain you are that you exist. Well, the believer is equally certain that Christ is raised from the dead. And how does the believer know that Christ is resurrected? By the Word. Well, God says in the very same sentence. “Because if you confess the Lord Jesus with your mouth, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, YOU WILL BE SAVED.” And is God to be trusted with first half of that sentence, and not the second half?
Comments (7)
yes, but by definition an athiest is not one who denies the existance of the God of the Bible or of Christianity, but denies the existance of any god of any religion at all. i never denied the existance of God, i just disagreed with what you said.
but following your logic i suppose that, because i have doubted before and because i speak peace to arminians and what not, i am, in your mind, unsaved and i don’t think i will ever change your mind on that. im sorry we cant continue these conversations. thank you for them, they’ve been good.
love you brother, God bless,
ryan.
Oy vey, Andrew.
If you think that people who disagree with you are atheist then i really question your relationship with Christ.
plus, if you really believed that we are damned, then why are you giving us these long-winded speeches….
while reading your xanga, the LAST adjective I’d describe you as is “Christlike” – with your haughtiness, ignorance, self-righteousness, and complete lack of visible love. You may be a follower, but you’re acting more like a pharisee.
Interesting that you use the word “Jehovah” to mean God. Is not Jehovah a manufactured name, void of meaning or value? Did not the scribes of old, fearing the missuse of the name of God by foul-mouthed young men combine the name of the Lord and His title? Is it not a combination of “Yavah” and “Adonah?”
You would do well to look into this. Study your Hebrew…the consonants of Yavah and the vowls of Adonah…
Could not one argue that in using a void name for God, that you yourself do not know Him? For His nature is bound up in His name as He spoke to Moses, “I am that I am.” If you call Him a name without meaning, do you not also call Him void and thus a liar?
Do not your own words condemn you?
Yay! We finally have an infallible prophet (Pope?), Andrew C. Bain, who can clear up ALL the confusion that has been rumbling on this earth for two millennia! The Holy Spirit sure did a lousy job in preserving His Church; thank goodness for people like Andrew C. Bain, His All Eminence, the New Supreme Pontiff, now here, condescending to interpret the Holy Scriptures for us unworthy plebians! How dare you rebuke somebody who has the infallible Word of God at his fingertips, to weild and destroy every worldview that disagrees with his own? Fool! Dost thou not know that there was no church until the Westminster Confession of Faith was written in 1650? There were only Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox before that, and they are all condemned as ATHEISTS! Let all mortal flesh keep SILENCE before the words of the great Ubermench, Andrew C. Bain!