You need to add virtue to your faith

by Matthew

2 Peter 1:3
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

James 2:14-20
14 ¶ What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?

15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,

16 and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

18 ¶ Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.

19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

A common interpretation of James 2:14-20 holds that James is distingushing between true and false faith. The argument goes that if one has true faith, then one will do works. It is impossible, on this view, to have faith without that faith resulting in works.

If that were so, we might ask why the apostle Peter needed to write the words:

add to your faith virtue

According to Strong's concordance, virtue is:

a virtuous course of thought, feeling and action
virtue, moral goodness
any particular moral excellence, as modesty, purity

Does that sound at all like something that might include works? I think so.

Yet faith does not come with virtue automatically; one must add virtue to one's faith. Otherwise, one's faith is dead. Without works, faith is useless in the Christian life.

Let's not have faith alone, but let us add virtue to our faith.

RIGHTLY DIVIDING FORGIVENESS OF SIN, by Joey Faust

by Joe D Faust

RIGHTLY DIVIDING FORGIVENESS OF SIN

Every Christian has the ETERNAL debt of sin paid in full. This is the forgiveness of a LOST SINNER which makes the sinner a SON. But when a SON sins, this sin may no longer merit an eternal penalty. But mystical antinomians and modern, Gnostic psychobabblers refuse to admit that God recognizes SIN in the saint! They refuse to see that the saint is responsible for his or her actions and that there are temporal consequences for evil conduct both here (1 Cor.11) and at the judgment seat (2 Cor.5:9-11).

Some teach that a Christian cannot sin "greatly," and that the "little sins" still in the saint are simply a result of GOD withholding His grace. Therefore, there can be no consequences for sin since these little sins are God's fault. But this is a misuse and abuse of the doctrine of God's sovereignty. Others teach that these little sins are the old man's problem, and that the new man is certainly not responsible for them. But we simply answer that the Christian who failed to "put on" the new man is the one who is responsible (Ephesians 4:23-24)!

Notice the Scriptures that teach that New Testament believers must still seek forgiveness for the sins they commit as SONS:

James 2:12 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

Colossians 3:23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
25 But HE THAT DOETH WRONG shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.

1 John 1:9 If WE confess our sins, he is faithful and just to FORGIVE us our SINS, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Luke 11:4 And FORGIVE us our SINS; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us...

"To say that they [believers' sins] are to be recognized as sins, and yet that no acknowledgment is to be made, and no forgiveness sought for them, is a statement so monstrous as to carry its own refutation."
-B.W. Newton (1807-1899)

"It is not the sinner who is in view, but the failing believer. If we will not forgive, we cannot be forgiven (Mark 11:26). This is an unalterable principle in God's government of His family. When a believer has SINNED and seeks restoration, he is forgiven as he forgives. This is not the same thing as the justification of a sinner, which is by faith alone....what we have here is the Father's forgiveness when His own children fail, and if we forgive not our brethren then the Father will not grant us restorative forgiveness."
(H.A. Ironside, "Addresses on Luke")

"The term 'forgive' is used in two senses in the Scripture. There is forgiveness in the sense of God's daily approval and fellowship of people already saved...The term is also used of salvation, in the sense that all our sins were laid on the Lord Jesus...One who has trusted Christ for salvation has his sins already forgiven, AS FAR AS HIS ETERNAL DESTINY IS CONCERNED....Dr. Scofield here, in the older Scofield Bible notes on this passage [Luke 11], is mistaken..." (John Rice, Commentary on Luke)

So many of God's children have become very confused and rebellious in these last days. They don't even ask God for forgiveness as SONS! This is the day of God's long-suffering. Yet, in 1 Corinthians 11, God made some saints sick, and others He killed for not discerning the Lord's Body in the Supper! What then will God do to Christian sinners on the day of judgment when Paul says we can experience the terror of the Lord (2 Cor.5:9-11)? The Holy Spirit provides a remedy, if we will pay attention to it:

1 Corinthians 11:30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
31 For IF WE WOULD JUDGE OURSELVES, we should not be judged.
32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

If we would examine our lives by the Word and confess our failings, and beseech God for mercy, He would not have to judge us. But some despise His chastenings. These unfaithful sons do not confess their sins and ask God for mercy. They boast that they are no longer responsible for sin, in any sense; they use the truths of justification in eternity as a buffer against any doctrine of accountability. Stripes will surely be waiting for them at the Judgment Seat.

Pleasently Surprised in the Pounds

by Matthew

Readers may be aware that I attend a church that is Calvinistic and Lordship Salvation in orientation.

Today, the junior pastor was preaching on the Parable of the Pounds in Luke 19. I was waiting to hear him tell us that the third and wicked servant was an hypocritical professor and to metapmorphose the passage into a gospel (?) appeal based on this warning. However, I was very pleasently surpised when he declared that the wicked servant was in fact truly regenerate. He then declared that it was possible for a true believer not do any works.

Naturally, I agree with him about this, but I am at quite a loss to know how he would reconcile this surprise assertion with his views on James chapter 2, his recent preaching on the epistles of John and his tendency to confuse faith and discipleship.

After the service, I told him how pleasently surpised I was. He explained that he did not think the Parable of the Pounds was the same as the Parable of the Talents. I did not deal with this point, as it would have meant getting into an interesting conversation about the Outer Darkness. Anyway, I felt very good after hearing this sermon.

A Confusing "Good News"

Has anyone ever seen this:
Two Ways to Live
????

It is an online evangelistic presentation. I was reading through it on Tuesday and I found myself nodding in agreement with much of it. Page five had this:

What’s more, when we are pardoned through Jesus’ death, we can be quite sure that when Jesus does return to judge, we will be acceptable to him. The risen Jesus will give us eternal life, not because we have earned it, but because he has died in our place.

I wondered if whoever put this together really meant to say "the Risen Jesus will give us eternal life." Do they think it is all future... or do they understand that at the time of the the new birth we actually begin eternal life? I was giving the benefit of the doubt and hoping that they viewed it the same way as I. Then I clicked onto page 6.

Box 6

What is this?

God's New Way:
1. Submit to Jesus as our ruler and
2. Rely on Jesus' death and ressurection

RESULT:
1. Forgiven by God
2. Given eternal life

Have I "submitted" to Jesus as my ruler? Wow - when I consider that as a condition for receiving eternal life, I find it very confusing and unbiblical. First of all, it is not a clearly defined thing. Now, we can argue about the content of saving faith all we want, but at the end of the day, all of we FGers would agree that it is faith - belief - trust - in Christ alone that saves. But... what part of faith does "submit" play? That to me is an action - a willingness to take action at the very least. So this is saying that unless I "submit"... I cannot receive this gift? I was thinking that if I were unsaved I would be very confused as to what has to happen for me to be alright with God. As a Christian of 21 years I also know the impracticality of this - I have not fully submitted to Christ - who has? I am trying to, but I have not arrived. So, according to this presentation, I cannot be sure to have the result promised - eternal life.

I saw that there was more to the presentation, so I continued, hoping that it would become clearer to the reader. It ended with 3 STEPS:

1. Talk to God

2. Submit to Jesus
You’ll need to get rid of old rebellious habits (like greed, anger, selfishness, and so on) and start some new ones that please God (like generosity, kindness, love and patience). This second step will go on for the rest of your life...

3. Keep trusting
The third thing you have to do is also ongoing.

So there you "have" it? (Or not.) These things spoken of are great instruction for a Christian, but it is never clear when one becomes a Christian through this presentation. There is a kind of "sinner's prayer" on step 1 under the 3 STEPS, but no clear indication that one can know one is right with God upon placing faith in Christ. There is no indication in this presentation when a person actually is saved. Is it after one has completed all three steps? From the verbiage, I would say that it clearly implies that one cannot know he is OK with the Lord until he has finished that which he must do which is ONGOING and FOR THE REST OF [HIS] LIFE...