Not By Works
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Acts 5.1-11
5 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, [SUP]2 [/SUP]and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife’s full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles’ feet. [SUP]3 [/SUP]But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? [SUP]4 [/SUP]While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” [SUP]5 [/SUP]And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it. [SUP]6 [/SUP]The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.
[SUP]7 [/SUP]Now there elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. [SUP]8 [/SUP]And Peter responded to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price?” And she said, “Yes, that was the price.” [SUP]9 [/SUP]Then Peter said to her, “Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well.” [SUP]10 [/SUP]And immediately she fell at his feet and breathed her last, and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. [SUP]11 [/SUP]And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things.
5 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, [SUP]2 [/SUP]and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife’s full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles’ feet. [SUP]3 [/SUP]But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? [SUP]4 [/SUP]While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” [SUP]5 [/SUP]And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it. [SUP]6 [/SUP]The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.
[SUP]7 [/SUP]Now there elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. [SUP]8 [/SUP]And Peter responded to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price?” And she said, “Yes, that was the price.” [SUP]9 [/SUP]Then Peter said to her, “Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well.” [SUP]10 [/SUP]And immediately she fell at his feet and breathed her last, and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. [SUP]11 [/SUP]And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things.
I understand. I believed, even just a few weeks ago, that I was doing the keeping. But I have seen that He is doing it. It took quite a while for me to see that. I thought that by my struggles of faith (my favorite example is not fearing for my provision and not storing treasure on earth) I was the one growing my faith. So I understand you. 
7
when you believe that you are infallible due to the predestination clause, that is to be translated superior, you can say anything to anyone and call it holy
scary, isn't it?
I can honestly hardly believe some of what is to be read here
absolute denial of scripture, twisting of scripture and just plain tearing some of it out of the Bible
Huh...? Is that a Canadian game? I've never heard of it. Do you use a jar of pickles in the game...?
Here is a video of it from CBS sports. In the first few minutes it talks about it.
[video=youtube;mWYgsanCmPE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWYgsanCmPE&t=2335s[/video]
P
I hope you've been able to discern the distinction I'm making between 'faith', and the 'believing' that follows from faith.
Faith is a supernatural enabling given to a person by God, as a free gift, to know that something is true that they can't see or know in their own ability or power is true:
Most people choose to discard what God has shown them to be true about the gospel, in effect calling Him (the Holy Spirit) a liar (as the Pharisees did when they refused to believe the testimony of the Spirit in the miracles of Jesus):
"the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony (of the Holy Spirit) that God has given concerning His Son." (1 John 5:10 NASB)
But then there are the few of us who don't discard what God has shown us to be the truth and we choose to believe in what we now know to be true through the testimony of the Holy Spirit, and we hold fast to it in ourselves and are saved:
As you probably know, in scripture it says, "Many are called, but few are chosen" (Matthew 22:14 NASB). Many hear the voice of the Holy Spirit in a convicting of the truth of the gospel, but it is us few who then believe on what the Spirit has convicted us as being true. And so God 'chooses' us on the basis of our faith (our believing) in Him.
The point is, God gives us the power and the ability--the faith (see the definition of faith above)--to know the gospel is true. And he gives it as a free gift. But it is then incumbent upon us to then place our trust--our believing--in what he has shown us to be true through his gracious gift of enabling faith. And it is this decision to believe that is the condition that must be satisfied, and kept satisfied until the Day of Salvation for us to be saved on the Day of Salvation.
God's gracious gift of faith (the ability to know something is true that we can't see) is the power he gives for us to do the believing/trusting that we are required to do in order to be saved. And last time I checked, believing/ trusting in Christ is not on the 'works' side in Paul's 'faith vs. works for justification' treatise in Romans, so believing and trusting is hardly the effort of trying to save oneself as some are insisting here in this thread.
Maybe what you mean to ask is, "how have you been able to keep believing and grow in that believing, despite the world...?"
I can because 1) I want to (I don't want to go back to the world--been there, done that), and 2) God is faithful to keep me supplied with a generous offering of his gracious gift of faith (the ability to know something is true) which makes it so I can continue to then believe and trust in what he has shown me to be true.
Faith is a supernatural enabling given to a person by God, as a free gift, to know that something is true that they can't see or know in their own ability or power is true:
"1Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1 NASB)
The gift of faith is how God comes to a person to convict them of the gospel. He does that through the testimony of the Holy Spirit speaking into the hearts of people:
"It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth." (1 John 5:6 NASB)
"the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony (of the Holy Spirit) that God has given concerning His Son." (1 John 5:10 NASB)
"10The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony (of the Holy Spirit) in himself" (1 John 5:10 NASB)
The point is, God gives us the power and the ability--the faith (see the definition of faith above)--to know the gospel is true. And he gives it as a free gift. But it is then incumbent upon us to then place our trust--our believing--in what he has shown us to be true through his gracious gift of enabling faith. And it is this decision to believe that is the condition that must be satisfied, and kept satisfied until the Day of Salvation for us to be saved on the Day of Salvation.
God's gracious gift of faith (the ability to know something is true that we can't see) is the power he gives for us to do the believing/trusting that we are required to do in order to be saved. And last time I checked, believing/ trusting in Christ is not on the 'works' side in Paul's 'faith vs. works for justification' treatise in Romans, so believing and trusting is hardly the effort of trying to save oneself as some are insisting here in this thread.
Maybe what you mean to ask is, "how have you been able to keep believing and grow in that believing, despite the world...?"
I can because 1) I want to (I don't want to go back to the world--been there, done that), and 2) God is faithful to keep me supplied with a generous offering of his gracious gift of faith (the ability to know something is true) which makes it so I can continue to then believe and trust in what he has shown me to be true.
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7
yup
I wonder how many would drop right here and now for lying to the Holy Spirit
sobering thought I'm thinking
Peter was a man, right? not God I mean
but of course Peter must have waved his wand in a snit or something
or maybe the portal sequencing was upset or off balance
how do you possibly read something so plain and convert it to something banal because it does not agree with your personal revelations?
rhetorical question
I wonder how many would drop right here and now for lying to the Holy Spirit
sobering thought I'm thinking
Peter was a man, right? not God I mean
but of course Peter must have waved his wand in a snit or something
or maybe the portal sequencing was upset or off balance
how do you possibly read something so plain and convert it to something banal because it does not agree with your personal revelations?
rhetorical question