Thursday: The Experience of Salvation: Part 2
The experience of justification places within the life of the believer spiritual realities that initiate change in the person’s life.
Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com
In justification, the sinner is forgiven (Luke 7:47, Eph. 1:7, Rom. 4:7), acquitted of the charges of sin and reckoned righteous (Rom. 5:16, 18; Rom. 8:1), and given the gift of a new life (Eph. 2:1-5, 2 Cor. 5:17).
The foundation of this new experience is the reality that, no matter our past, no matter our sins, no matter how faulty and wrong we have been, we can stand pardoned, forgiven, and cleansed before God.
Think through what this means. Christ’s death covers all sin, even the worst; no matter how much your own heart might condemn you (1 John 3:20), when you surrender yourself to Christ, in faith, and accept His perfect life instead of your own “filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6), then you are at that moment covered in Christ’s righteousness. His perfect life is credited to you as if it were yours. Talk about a gift, especially to a sinner!
The question is, How can something like this happen to a person and that person not be radically changed? That change, often called the “new birth,” is part and parcel of the experience of salvation.
Read the texts in the above paragraphs and summarize their teachings about justification and the way in which we experience it in our own lives.
The experience of forgiveness ends the sinner’s vulnerability to God’s wrath and clears away any barriers to reconciliation and fellowship between God and humans. A new life opens up for the sinner, who has the privilege of living in fellowship with Christ under the direction and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Repentance is the prerequisite for entering into the experience of forgiveness and justification, and it comes accompanied by confession and baptism (Acts 2:38, 1 John 1:9). This helps to explain the fact that although forgiveness is available to all, not all will be forgiven.
Where would you be if you couldn’t lean on the promise, every moment of your life, that your acceptance with God is based on what Jesus has done for you, and not on yourself or your own performance and law-keeping?
(0)
"Repentance is the prerequisite for entering into the experience of forgiveness and justification, and it comes accompanied by confession and baptism (Acts 2:38, 1 John 1:9)." That is true as long as we keep in mind that repentance is a gift just as much as justification is (Acts 5:31). Our salvation is initiated by God - not us; "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 Jn. 4:19 NKJV). We also should realize the simple fact that Jesus is the, "author and finisher of our faith" (Heb. 12:2 NKJV) and everything in between. We are righteous by faith in God's grace that saves us and changes us into His likeness which is something that is beyond our power to do (Jer 13:23). It then all boils down to a choice that we make and beyond that we have no power to do anything without Christ (Jn 15:5).
Hello, Brothers and Sisters in Christ can somebody help me to understand clearly this line basing on today's subject? This comes from Mark 3:29...''but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”?
Dear Joachim,
I understand blasphemy against the Holy Spirit as being a matter of no longer recognizing the voice of the Spirit. In effect the person says that the Spirit is not God's voice, that God is not God, and that is blasphemy.
It usually happens gradually. By not doing what the Spirit says one time, it is easier not to do it the next and the next and the next. Eventually it becomes very easy to ignore the voice of the Spirit. And finally the Spirit no longer makes any impression on the mind. At that point the person has committed the sin against the Holy Spirit. It is not that the Spirit no longer speaks. It is that the person no longer hears.
It seems to me that as long as anyone is convicted of sin, that person has not committed the sin against the Holy Spirit.
Paul puts it well in Eph 2:8 that we are saved by grace, through faith...a favour we did not deserve, and its a free gift. God initiated it, and is the finisher of it. I love it...
@Joachim I have always been confused about that text but I got some insight via this link on 3ABN http://3abn.org/?s=BLASPHEMY or go to http://3abn.org and type blasphemy in the search box.
I thank God daily for His grace, love and mercy towards us...I thank him for outpouring of the Holy Spirit who strengthens, builds, and guides us in the Lord.
Dear Joachim, according to the little I know, one can't be forgiven of blaspheming the Holy Spirit because it is He who leads us into repentance which repentance precedes forgiveness. Not until you repent can you be forgiven and the only one who can lead you into repentance is the Holy Spirit who convicts you of your sins. Remember, forgiveness is available to all but not all will be forgiven. WHY? because some have not asked for it (repentance).
Hope this explanation helps you.
May the good Lord bless you all.
"These things I write unto you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you might know you have eternal life, that you might believe in the name of the Son of God." 1 John 5:13. O how sweet, love prevails, there is no doubt I am saved. Great is His faithfulness even unto me. My will to be obedient is bolstered, I am motivated daily by the scenes at the cross, and the plans and actions of the great hope that took place before my blessed Saviour took my sins to the tree and died that I having died in sin now live in His righteousness...
Buenos dias
Repentance is good but had to do, but in God all things are possible
Joachim, the passage you speak of has to do with when someone has grieved away the Holy Spirit, has lost the ability to repent, and has rejected the Good News altogether. They cannot be forgiven because they have lost the ability to ask for forgiveness. This is the unpardonable sin.
Sin of the Holy Spirit is unpardonable sin, a sin which you have failed to ask God's forgiveness, a failure to repentance, until such time that you can no longer ask for it, when you are a dead man.
Tyler said it well. It all comes down to a choice and continues to be constantly.
About blaspheming the spirit, this means when one has sinned, and you fail to repent and your life ends, this means that your sin has become unpardonable, but as long as you are still living you can make a change and forgiveness is yours, just to claim it.
I would say that is partially true. Remember there will be many wicked alive when Christ returns! The scriptures tell us, that in the last days it shall be as the days of Noah and we know probation ended for those on the outside of the ark when the Angel of the Lord shut the door! Probation stands open for us now but is soon to close, and it closes before His return. For some it may have already closed, because we never know when our name comes up for review. We must listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit while there is still time, for it is He that guides us into all (and I place great significance on all) Truth! May God continue to be our Rock solid foundation, and lead us all to Everlasting Life...
In the context Jesus as the centre of our lives knows our hearts (John 2:25). Our sincerity, repentance, and confession should always be driven with the Holy Spirit and decision founded on the Holy Scriptures. think of a car designer, who knowing the car may fault at one point predesigned spare parts to provide remedy. God predestined our lives through christ to experience forgiveness and justification.