Monday

Everyone is Forgiven by God, But Not Everyone Is Saved

If everyone's sins are forgiven, does that mean everyone will be saved?
NO way! That would be universal salvation or universalism. Just because all your sins are forgiven does not mean that everyone will have eternal life with God. Jesus died for everyone's sins, but not everyone receives the forgiveness and the saving life that can be found only in Christ Jesus. Jesus came to give life to the lifeless (the dead). Everyone that is not spiritually born of God, is dead in their sin of unbelief and needs spiritual life. Most people today are not rebelling against God. They are rebelling against religion. Because deep down inside a person, they know in their heart, that they can never do all the things that their religious systems tells them they need to do in order for God to take them to the promised land, or to have eternal life, or whatever your idea of salvation is. Praying five times a day, facing east, going to a catholic church, going to a protestant church, thinking positive thoughts, going to the confession booth, or whatever your religious works system that has been embedded into your heart from birth, will not get you to be in right standing with the one true God.

Growing up Catholic, as a child, I had to go to the confession booth once a month and tell a priest what my sins were for the month. So, when I went to the confession booth I had this one problem; I forgot how many times I had sinned, and how many times I disobeyed my parents or lied, which for a young child was some "bad sinning." No, there are not different degrees of sin, but that is what people think and what I thought at the time. So, I would make up stuff to say to the priest. I would think to myself about various times of sinning and try to decide, was the time when my parents wanted me to do my chores, and I didn't take the trash out to begin with, but took it out later, was this a sin to my parents? And really, how many times did I really sin in the month - 5 times, 10 times, or 17.5 times? Think of the confusion, trying to remember the specifics. So, I would just make up stuff and add an extra lie or two to the count for the made up stuff (the lies I told to the priest). Then the Catholic priest would say, "OK, now for your penance say five 'Our Fathers' and five 'Hail Marys.' and now make a good act of contrition." So this went on, month in and month out. Stupid, stupid and stupid.

Then one day, after I had been out on my own, and was much older, someone shared with me that Jesus had forgiven me of all my sins. Wow, this was great news! That day I freely received the forgiveness of God and believed in Jesus as God in the flesh, who took away my sins at the cross, never to be brought up again. Jesus sent his Spirit, to come and give me life and I received his life into me. He did the work that I could never do for myself. This is the Good News Gospel. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved at the moment of belief. Please read the Welcome message.

2 comments:

  1. I absolutely agree with this belief that all are forgiven but not saved. This article really blessed me.Because I was starting to doubt if I was in the truth and maybe had slipped into error with this belief. But when you see salvation as a restoration of life by the HolySpirit, and not a person asking for forgiveness it makes perfect sense. God already dealt with sin, now it is whether a person receives that eternal life or reject it. Thank you for the confirmation and affirming and reminding me that this is the truth. We can proclaim that sin has been forgiven.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amen brother! I felt the same, and I am so happy to know the truth of my forgiveness that was already a accomplished 2000 years ago. Salvation is about receiving LIFE, being BORN again, and receiving the Holy Spirt

    ReplyDelete

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