What I believe...
The death of Jesus Christ was vicarious and propitiatory and that by it divine justice is satisfied, and God can be just and the justifier of all who believe in Christ Jesus, and that pardon and salvation is freely offered to all men, upon repentence and faith.
God knew from the beginning what choice Adam was going to make and did foreordain and devise a plan from the foundation of the world by which He would save men, and further, He did foreordain from the beginning, all men throughout the ages who would accept and be willing to conform to this plan, should be saved; so that everyone in harmony with His power and liberty of choice who shall choose eternal life through God's plan was foreordained to eternal salvation.
True repentence is a condition of the soul before God wrought by the operations of the Spirit of God upon the heart and soul of man whereby he is made to see and feel the sinfulness of his sins, and also to forsake them utterly and with full purpose of heart to yield obedience to God in the future.
The devil does not want people to understand their true wretched state and seek forgiveness. Whether a Christian is a month old in the Lord or 90 years old he will constantly try to downplay the reality of sin in that persons life. If a christian glosses over sin its to his detriment because it ruins his walk with God.
Justification can only follow true repentence and is an act of God's free grace wherein he pardons the sins of man, and accepts him as righteous in His sight, only for the sake of Christ. |
