"The Real Secret"

"The Real Insight"

"The Real Spiritual Revelation"

"The Real Spiritual Experience"

is JESUS.

Jesus Himself *is*:

my Faith,

my Forgiveness,

my Deliverer,

my Savior,

my Lord,

my God,

my Truth--THE Truth,

my Love,

my Strength,

my Life,

my Provision,

my Health,

my Blessing,

my Peace,

my Meaning,

my Wisdom,

my Laughter,

my Song,

my Justification,

my Sanctification,

my Salvation,

my Transformation,

my Holiness,

my Goodness,

my Stability-Rock,

my Wisdom,

my Knowing,

my Love,

my Peace*,

my Protection,

my Healing,

my Direction-Giver,

my Blessing,

my Righteousness,

my Sanctification*,

my Creator,

my Redemption

my Resurrection

and...

my Glorification.

Jesus is my Heaven in the Real World, as Steven Curtis Chapman sings.

I do *not* want to rely on my rotten sinful self.

I rely on Him *inside* my spirit.

I, the branch, RELY on Him, the Vine, and I draw my life and my blessing from Him, the Vine.

Jesus Himself is my Spiritual Food. Jesus is the Bread of Life.

He is the life that is truly Life.

Jesus is my God.

Jesus is my Savior.

Jesus is my Lord.

This is living--practical and spiritual living.

He is Love and Warmth and Truth and Forgiveness and Calmness and Friend.

It's not you OR Him--it's you, your new self, that believes, that is RELYING ON Him.

Sanctification by Your Soul Relying on Jesus in your spirit and in your heart.

[Bob, I *know* in my spirit that you were praying that I would see this again. It happened, of course. Bob, thank you, my brother!]

They are blessed who exalt Jesus,

*not* themselves,

*not* their fanatical opinions,

*not* their anger,

*not* their End Times theories,

*not* their emotions,

*not* even their religious/church/intellect-only dogma,

but instead they exalt JESUS in their hearts and to others. And they love with unconditional love--these are the ones who receive from God spiritual and practical blessings--and the salvation of others.

God loves all people.

He wants all people to be saved and to come to know Jesus, by His Grace, though faith, trust and CONTINUAL RELIANCE ON HIM. Jesus, in a real way, is all of these things to me.

He has personally completely delivered me from an mental/emotional Living Hell and He helps me every day. (You'd be thankful, too, if this happened to you!)

He set me on a Solid Rock--Himself.

No, it is not embarrassing to talk like this, to rely on Him and not my own wretched pride, my own sinful self, my own depraved flesh.

Jesus is the Truth and Jesus works in the practical world.

RELYING ON JESUS, The Truth, sets you free!

Do it, and you will experience it!

From eternity, out of unfathomable, unimaginable love, God chose me to be saved, in Christ. Then, during my earthly life, He gave me the ability to believe in Christ. Also, thank God, He promises, in the Bible, to keep me until the Day my that body is glorified and I enter Heaven. Yes, God is fearfully awesome and worthy to be praised and thanked for His mercy, grace, love and kindness!

Here's the question: Is it possible for a person who has believed in Jesus and been "saved," to lose his or her salvation and become "unsaved," again?

Many people think this is a very difficult and uncertain question. (Especially many people posting their confused thoughts on the Internet!)

Some people try to get clarity by typing "eternal security" into their search engine to try to research this issue.

On this issue in particular, I would NOT recommend this approach!

If you are fearful about the permanency of your salvation and it is 3 am and you type "eternal security" into Google, you are probably in for more confusion and fearfulness.

It doesn't have to be this way.

One of the problems with this approach is that you are probably tired and your mind will keep postulating the opposite of whatever you are trying to prove to yourself.

You start to feel crazy and unsure of everything.

The other problem is that several issues are often combined in a discussion of "eternal security," and this adds to the confusion.

(Plus, there is one very deceptive and destructive false teacher named "Dan Corner" who teaches endlessly and voluminously *against* the biblical truth of eternal security. His articles are all over the web. Please be forewarned that this man's writings can twist your mind and emotions into knots in a hurry!)

Anyway, "eternal security" is ONE ASPECT of the larger theological subject of "soteriology," which is the study of Christian salvation.

There are aspects of soteriology that we initially may not "like," or that we may strongly emotionally reject unless we have a deep and well-rounded understanding of the subject.

One thing I am very sure of: once you understand what salvation IS according to the Bible, you will know that you, as a believer in Jesus Christ, can NEVER "lose" it.

The simple truth is, God chooses some people to be saved, and other people He does NOT choose to be saved.

At first, this may seem so unfair and horrific, that many people feel like throwing up their hands in frustration and say, basically, "Any God who does something like that is awful, and He can go jump in a lake! I don't want to believe in a God like that!"

Once you understand the various aspects of salvation, you will understand that it is actually very loving that things are this way, and that God does things this way.

Let me explain.

First of all, we need to understand our situation, and what "salvation" actually is.

First of all, let's assess our "situation." Our situation is that we all are the creations of God. Each individual one of us has been designed by God.

Secondly, all humans are "sinners"--cut off from God and evil by nature, because we are biologically descended from our first parents Adam and Eve, who became sinful humans because of their sins against God.

The sin and evil that is in us by nature is the reason the world is such a mess of conflict, war, lies, selfishness, murder, evil, crime, sin, death, etc.

Thirdly, as we know, all people have death as part of their program here on Earth.

So: creation, sin, and death.

Then, there is the question of Justice and The Afterlife.

If God is just, should criminals be punished for their crimes?

Should sinners be punished for their sins?

The Bible says that the punishment for sin is death--bodily death AND eternal death.

Eternal death is defined as separation from God in Hell.

So that is our "situation." Pretty dismal, to say the least, right?

Yes, it is.

So, is there any good news?

Thank God, yes, there is!

Out of amazing kindness, God became human and suffered excruciating punishment AS OUR SUBSTITUTE, in order to free us from this punishment.

Now, that's GOOD NEWS!!

The Bible says that the only way to be saved from God's wrath is to receive Jesus as our Savior through believing in Him.

We must believe the Gospel. ("Gospel" means "Good News.")

The Gospel is: JESUS, the sinless God/man, because He loved us so much, died on the cross for all of our sins. He was buried and rose from death on the third day.

If we believe this simple truth, we are immediately "saved," and we are thereafter destined for Heaven, completely without regard to any other factors.

So, that is our situation, and that is God's amazing and costly solution to our problem.

He is a Just and Loving God.

But how about a little more detail about "salvation"?

Okay. The truth is that we would ALL be headed for Hell if God did not give us this GIFT of Jesus.

That fact that He saves any of us from so certain a terror is a huge reason to praise Him from our hearts!

So, how about some more details about "salvation"?

Okay, this is how it works:

Before God created the Earth and the entire universe, knowing fully everything that would happen, He graciously decided on a plan of salvation.

In eternity, before the world was created, God decided to save certain people, (but NOT all people), from the results of their sin.

I that "unfair"?

No, "unfair" would be if God did NOT send people to Hell as the just punishment for their sins.

The fact that He saves some of us humans by enabling us to believe in Jesus is called "Grace."

People cannot believe in Jesus if God does not help them to do so.

God DOES desire ALL people to be saved, but, being God, He wears many hats.

God is the Judge.

God is also the Savior.

God saves believers in Jesus from His wrath.

God saves believers from His Justice.

So, there are several "wills" in God.

One of His wills is that He wants (or "wills") no one to sin.

Another of His wills is that He will allow people to sin even though He doesn't want them to sin.

Another of His wills is that He wants everyone to be saved.

Another of His wills is that only those that He has chosen will actually be saved.

Why are things like this?

Is God confused?

No, not at all.

The Bible is just being honest about the way things actually are.

By birth and nature, we are all in a really bad situation, and God in His Grace and Justice deals with all humans individually.

But why does He not just simply save everyone?

People think of all the pain the damned will suffer in Hell, and wonder why God does not simply stop this from happening.

The reason is that God has the prerogative to dispense Grace or Justice on each individual human being.

To put it bluntly, God's Justice is more important than human pain.

Let me ask you a question. Do you think a woman has the right to accept one man as her husband and reject another?

Is she doing anything wrong by doing this?

No, she isn't.

If a mere human has this power and this right, so does God.

God has freewill and He has the prerogative to do whatever He wants to do.

Okay, now specifically, what is "salvation"?

What is it's process?

The process of salvation is that before the world was created, God chose to give certain people the ability to believe in Jesus, who is the Only Way to be saved.

God causes certain people to believe in Jesus.

This group of people is huge, but much smaller than the total number of persons in humanity.

In other words, most people reject God.

The people saved by God are described in the Bible as the "few," "the little flock," the remnant," and other names indicating their small number compared to the much larger group, (also known as the "world") that will NOT get God's Grace, but rather will get God's Justice.

Many people rage against this as if God is being unfair.

Actually, the "fair" thing would be for God to send EVERYONE to Hell.

Grace is giving evil sinners what they DON'T DESERVE: forgiveness and Heaven.

People who do not believe in the Gospel don't realize the horror of their sin, the terror of their destination, or the seriousness of their offenses against Holy God.

People who ARE saved, should know that we are saved through faith in Jesus.

This ability to believe is the loving gift of God, without any merit or worthiness in those who believe.

We are not any better than other people because we believe!

We cannot take credit for being so wise or so good or so strong as to believe.

Even the ability to believe is a gift from God.

God is just--but He is NOT "equitable."

We can see this in the natural world.

God does NOT give to everyone great beauty or intelligence.

Is God unjust for giving some more than others?

Not at all--His gifts are His to give to whomever He will. Or not.

So, the Gospel is preached and those who believe in Jesus are the chosen of God.

Those who believe, being chosen, are declared "not guilty" of all of their sins. (This is known as "justification.")

God can do this because He Himself paid the price of Justice with His own pain and blood and death on the cross. (The Bible says that the punishment for sin is death.)

So God will be praised for His Justice, and God will be praised for His Grace.

"He's got the whole world in His hands."

This is true. But for most people, God's sovereignty will result in them getting His Justice.

Believers in Jesus are "eternally secure" because God chose us from eternity, and He promises to glorify (bring to completion), all those who believe in Jesus.

So, a believer in Jesus can never lose "his" or "her" salvation because it isn't "their" salvation to begin with--it's God's salvation, given to us.

Those who have believed in Jesus will "never die," (spiritually); we are indwelt by God the Holy Spirit and sealed by Him; and there is no possibility that a person saved by faith can lose his salvation, even if he chooses to no longer believe, even if he chooses, against God's will, to sin like crazy--because God is the one who has chosen to save him, and no one can resist His overruling will.

Of course, if a believer chooses to rebel against God's loving will for His life, he may have no *assurance* of the salvation he actually possesses.

Also, he will be punished here on Earth, and he will lose *rewards* in Heaven.

But because of God's Grace already given, he will never "lose his salvation," and He will still go to Heaven, even though he will be ashamed because of his unconfessed sins when he sees Jesus. (Before he enters Heaven.)

Those who have believed in Jesus, who have trusted in Him, are said by the Bible to possess "everlasting life," and we are guaranteed to be "kept" by God unto Heaven, and to NOT be lost by God.

If you believe in Jesus, thank God for His forgiveness in Christ, and His amazing gift of Grace!

Hallelujah!

JESUS.

ALL ABOUT JESUS: : Jesus in Old Testament Scripture: Cosmos Created by Jesus; Moral Law; Israel's History Prefigures Jesus; Poetic Longings for the Savior; Prophecy of the Savior.

DEITY: Jesus is God and man.

TRINITY: There is One God in Three Persons: The Father, The Son Jesus, and The Holy Spirit.

NEW COVENANT: The New Testament is the modern believer's Covenant Scripture.

THE CANON OF SCRIPTURE: The 66 Books of the Bible (New and Old Testament) are the inspired and inerrant Word of God.

IMPORTANT OLD TESTAMENT VERSES: (Genesis 1:1; Psalm 23; and Isaiah chapter 53.)

IMPORTANT NEW TESTAMENT VERSES:
John 3:16; John 6:47; 1st Corinthians 15: 1-4; Ephesians 1:13, 14; Revelation 22;:20.)

FALL INTO SIN: The first humans disobeyed God and dragged the whole human race into sin and evil. Every human is born sinful. (Doctrine of "Original Sin.")

THE GOSPEL: Believe in Jesus Christ, God, and the Son of God that He died on the cross for all of your sins, was buried, and rose again from death to life on the third day, and be permanently, irrevocably, eternally and everlastingly saved.

JUSTIFICATION: Justification by faith in Jesus: Anyone who believes in Jesus is immediately *declared not guilty* of all their sins by God, based on the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus.

HEAVEN OR HELL: Everyone who is saved from God's justice for their sins through Jesus will go to Heaven the very minute they die. All those who do not believe in Jesus will go to Hell the minute they die to be punished for their sins.

EVERLASTING AND ETERNAL SECURITY: Anyone who has believed in Jesus is eternally secure and God will never lose his salvation no matter what he or she does or does not do after being saved.

THE CHURCH: defined as all believers in Jesus. Also known as "the Body of Christ."

REWARDS: In Heaven, believers will be rewarded for doing the will of God.

CHASTISEMENT: Willful, persistent and unconfessed sin by believers on Earth will be punished by God.

CONFESSION AND CLEANSING: Confess your ongoing sins continually and be cleansed and restored instantly. >>1st John 1:9.

INFILLING; Be filled with the Spirit of Grace.
Be filled with God's love and the His Spirit.

PROMISES: Believe His promises.

PROVISION: God provides physically for the needs of His children.

HEALING: God can heal today.

LOVING AND FORGIVING: Love God; love and forgive others and self.

TRUST: Trust God--your Creator.

OBEY: Obey God and be blessed.

PRAYER: Pray continually.

FORGIVE: *Forgive everyone,* in God's power.

NEW WAY OF LIFE: Live as a Christian 24/7.

GROWTH: Grow in His Grace.

NOT UNDER LAW; UNDER GRACE: The believer is NOT under the Law. The believer is under the Grace of God and is permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

INDWELLING: Christ lives in all believers in Him.

RELIANCE: Rely on Jesus and do God's will in the power of the Holy Spirit.

EVANGELISM: Bring others to Jesus and His forgiveness and salvation.

SPIRITUAL/INTELLECTUAL GROWTH: Grow in Scripture knowledge and wisdom.

SECOND COMING: Look for Jesus' Second Coming.

PEACE: Be at peace and fearless, in God's love in Christ.

After they had sinned, God promised Adam and Eve, the first two humans, that He would send a Savior to deliver them from the results of their sin.

I have often wondered why Eve's first child was not the promised Messiah.

Why wait so long to send His Son, the Savior?

I asked God, in prayer, for an answer to this question, and this is the insight I got in my conscience.

God gave me four reasons why Jesus was not the first son of Eve. These reasons also prove the divine origin of the Bible and the validity and identity of the Savior Christ.

1.) THE LAW: To show sin as utterly sinful. Once the Law--the Ten Commandments-- was given, the evil and sinful heart of man wanted nothing more than to break its righteous requirements to pieces.

The mercy of God provided animal sacrifices, stand-ins for Christ, to cover the foreseen acts of disobedience.

*Only Jesus could keep the Law.

2.) HISTORY: God wanted to show that ALL humans, Israelites and non-Israelites, in all nations, were unable to keep the requirements of the Moral Law, of their conscience, and even the rules and moral codes they themselves made up as worthy of keeping.

*Jesus kept the Law perfectly over the course of His entire life.

3.) POETRY: The deepest longings of much of mankind, because of the conscience God put into all men, are for righteousness, goodness, and Heaven. The poetry of the Psalms and even the poetry of the world confirm this universal longing.

Even pop culture heroes such as Superman show the blatant hunger in the heart of mankind for a Man who would save the world. Superman is a man-made post-Christian type of Christ.

*Jesus, as the Christmas song says, is the fulfillment of the longing of all mankind.

4.) PROPHECY: The longing of mankind combined with the proven impossibility of accurate predictions of the future, prove the Old Testament prophecies to be true in their prediction of the coming Savior, most specifically in Isaiah chapter 53.

*Jesus specifically fulfilled all of the over ***250*** prophecies of Himself with 100% accuracy, many of which no mere human would have control over, such as the place of His birth.

I think these are four great reasons for the delay of thousands of years. They are perfectly set up, progressively, for the arrival of the Savior. These things could not have been accomplished without a lapse of time.

*Jesus came in "the fullness of time."

And thank God that He did.

~The whole Bible is about Jesus.~

After He came, God's people were no longer under commandments and punishments and bondage of the Law, but are now under Grace and the power and leading of the Holy Spirit.

Hallelujah! Thank God for the New Covenant of Grace in Christ!