Gino (11 Sep 2022)
"RE: Steve C: 09.04.22: not good enough to go"


No, I was not referring to people who spoke about maturity, but rather I was referring to those who spoke of being good enough to go or not.
I was taking their argument and applied it to myself, and was being open about my sins.
I was making the point, that given my sins, and considering simultaneously with their argument,
            that according to their argument, that I certainly was not good enough to go in the rapture.
Yes, I do believe that my sins were paid for by the blood of Jesus, shed on the cross.
No, I don't go on wildly, sinning without conviction nor repentance.
However, although I repent, eventually, at some point, after some time, sadly to say, I sin again, and repent again.
Am I sorry for sinning? Yes, I do believe that I am.
Also, I don't think that I feign repentance.
So, considering their argument that it is necessary to be good enough to go in the rapture,
		I can only think of a few possibilities:
1.	I never was saved in the first place, and that's why sin keeps coming back after a time
2.	I'm saved, but am an antinomian, Nicolaitan heretic, who sins thinking that good may come
3.	I'm saved, but not good enough, perennially falling short of the mark, in order to make the rapture
4.	I'm saved, and for a while after I repent, I'm in like a catholic "state of grace", good enough to go, but only until I sin again
5.	I'm saved, and, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man",
		so they are in the same boat as I am, i.e. not good enough to go
6.	Or their argument may not be correct

Jesus didn't say, "If ye want to be saved, keep my commandments".
Nor did he say, "If ye want to stay saved, keep my commandments".
Nor did he say, "If ye want to make the rapture, keep my commandments".
But, he did say, "If ye love me, keep my commandments".

We don't do things for him in order to get, but we do things for Jesus, because we love him.
Also, the only way to really do things for Jesus is by his Spirit, anyway.
We could not keep the commandments before we were saved;
And since we still have our old nature, we cannot truly keep his commandments, now.
But if we walk in the Spirit, submitting to the Holy Ghost, then he will do those things through us.
He can only do that which is right.
On our own, even our most righteous deeds are still filthy rags, with even our motives tainted.
Additionally, by nature, we are selfish, so we cannot truly love Jesus on our own, we need the Holy Ghost for that as well. 

btw - I've read that some early church writers considered the Nicolaitans to be very similar to today's hyper-grace antinomians.
And if Jesus hated that about the Nicolaitans, then he no doubt hates it if we think that we have a license to sin,
	turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness.
 

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