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 Re: The Seeker Whom Jesus Refused to Save

I think this thread should be renamed from The Seeker Whom Jesus Refused To Save, to The the seeker who refused to obey.

 2005/6/8 13:46
roadsign
Member



Joined: 2005/5/2
Posts: 3777


 Re: Changing the title

Your title suggestion might be less offensive to our perception of Jesus as a meek and mild, gentle and forgiving Savior. However, when I was meditating on that scripture about the rich ruler, the present title flashed from the page like a bolt of lightening.

Our Jesus is a consuming fire, he came to purge, to separate, to divide between the righteous and the unrightous. See Luke 12:49-54 where Jesus said, "I came to bring fire on the earth...". I see that another thread has been started on that very scripture. So let us not miss the divine message!

On the Judgment Day, Christ will be the Lamb of wrath. Many, many will say, "Lord, Lord... " (those who think they know him PERSONALLY), but will be driven away from him.


Perhaps the story of the rich ruler is in the Bible to remind us that Jesus refuses to save people on THEIR terms.

Ravenhill, Billy Graham, and others remind us that only about 5 percent of those who are believe that they are saved really are. If this thought doesn't shake us up, and cause us to fall on our faces, then surely, we must have forgotten who our Jesus really is.

Imagine when we face this Jesus on the final day, and must give an account for those whom are in hell because we gave them an eternal assurance policy that was void. Is there any difference between that and Bhuddism, Islam, etc... ?

If we don't shake off our denials about our easy-believism, come-as-you-are, seeker-friendly form of evangelicalism, how can we ever see GENUINE revival!!!!!

The rich ruler did not seek Jesus like the returning prodigal - broken, wretched and naked. He came looking for yet another "work" that could guarrantee him a place in heaven. He was trusting in his works, but had no desire for Christ.

In our churches, we would have eagerly offered this man salvation. We would have been happy to have his tithe, his friendly, caring personality, his good leadership skills, his trustworthiness, his faithful prayers. What an asset to our churches!

But Jesus didn't need any of this. Actually, Jesus wanted him to surrender his idols and false assurances, so that he could be free to follow Christ. Imagine! Jesus refused to give salvation to this upstanding leader on his own terms!!!

I ask, has Jesus changed today?
Diane


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Diane

 2005/6/9 6:31Profile
roadsign
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Joined: 2005/5/2
Posts: 3777


 Re: The Seeker Whom Jesus Refused to Save

Two days ago a Christian husband and wife (farmers), who were highly respected in my community, were killed in an auto accident. For the last 10 years he was a spiritual mentor to me. Sometimes I posted SI links to him. Because his burden was closely related to thread topic, I post my thoughts here now.

Only hours before his death he phoned me and we had a very long discussion about spiritual things, including eternal destiny, and matters discussed here. When I later heard the shocking news I was angry with God, wondering why he would take someone who had such a love for God, a passion for righteousness living, and a burden for revival and holy living.

This friend had deep concern about the prevalence of unauthentic salvations, and I believe that the biblical account of the rich man addresses that too. The rich ruler reminds us that we are not necessarily saved just because we have approached Jesus and asked for it, or because we have mustered up an “assurance”. We are saved only if God has given us his new life by his Spirit.

We don’t know if we even have another day. It would not be a bad idea to consider the question: “Does the Lord know me?” After all, what can matter more than that?

Diane


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Diane

 2007/1/31 20:58Profile
JaySaved
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Joined: 2005/7/11
Posts: 1132
Missouri

 Re:

Quote:
There is a sobering message in this biblical account. We evangelicals have been explaining salvation by choosing only certain Bible quotes, while neglecting the heart of the matter. We have been eager to save people, but we have miserably failed to make FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST.



Amen!

 2007/1/31 22:15Profile
myfirstLove
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Joined: 2005/11/26
Posts: 496


 Re: The Seeker Whom Jesus Refused to Save

Quote:
Only the Spirit knows the buried treasures of the heart. We don’t! So let us stop trying to play God. He will do the harvesting in HIS time, not ours, by HIS Spirit, not ours.



yes, only the Spirit knows the buried treasure in our heart, and sometimes He uses His servants to reveal the dark secrets of other people's heart. the gift is a prophectic gift, and maybe called the gift of word of knowledge.

elisha was shown much about the hearts of men. God reveal to ezielkiel the sin of the the leaders.

2 Kings 6:12
12 And one of his servants said, “None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.”

Ezekiel 33:30-32

30 “As for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses; and they speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, ‘Please come and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.’ 31 So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. 32 Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them.

these verses above, God reveals to ezekiel the true motives His people's heart.

yes, it is the Spirit who knows. without Him, these prophets would not have known. but these are examples that God does reveal the secrets of men's heart to whom He chooses.

i disagree with some of finney's stuff, but i believe that man was a prophet. he has a way of exposing the heart like no other. i surely see this as a gift from God. when you read finney's writtings, this kind of seeing came naturally to him. i have not yet met anyone who can speak right to the heart, like finney does. that kind of seeing is a prophectic gift, i believe.

i still believe that God uses His people like that just like He did with the prophets of old. what was one of the main reasons that the prophets were hated? they were hated because they exposed the true intent of the hearts, just like Jesus did with the rich young ruler and the pharisees.

i believe the more you are in Him, the more you will see the heart and NOT the outward appearance. you will see spiritually, not outwardly, to where you will be used to speak right into the hearts of men. it is thru His Spirit of corse that we are able to do it in that way, but it comes with a cost, and too many of God's people love their lives, hold on dearly to their titles and reputation. scared of loosing face.

with this kind of preaching, you will surely be hated by the religous just like Jesus was hated by the pharisees and the prophets were hated by His own people.

now i'm not talking about name callings. anyone can do that. but, just like God showed ezikiel the idols of the leaders heart and motives. He does that today, and the religous nash their teeth at it!


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Lisa

 2007/1/31 23:56Profile
roadsign
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Joined: 2005/5/2
Posts: 3777


 Re:

Myfirstlove said:

Quote:
i believe the more you are in Him, the more you will see the heart and NOT the outward appearance.


This is probably true because - the more we see OURSELVES, the more we will understand others. And that alone will silence a lot of our pronouncements against other’s “sins”.

Paul said, At whatever point you judge the other you are condemning yourself.” Rom. 2: 1 Of course this is not a command against judging, per se, but a warning to judge ourselves accurately. And we cannot do that apart from a brokenness that is willing to let God reveal our heart to us.

You can only change yourself, no one else.

As I ponder over the lives of my friends who died, God has been revealing to me some amazing truths. These people spoke far louder by their godly, generous characters than by their pronouncements against the church and society. In fact they said nothing to the church about their real concerns. He never opened the way for that. They left that in God's timing. And God is now using all that.


Diane


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Diane

 2007/2/1 9:10Profile





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