Unbelief = sin
Well, and taking the mark of the beast is unforgivable.
Unbelief = sin
Well, and taking the mark of the beast is unforgivable.
John 1:7 – He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.
John 1:12 – Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—
John 3:15 – that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.
John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:18 – Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
John 3:36 – Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
John 4:14 – but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 5:24 – “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.
John 6:28-29 – Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
John 6:35 – Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
John 6:40 – For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
John 6:47 – Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.
John 6:50-51 – But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
John 6:54 – Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.
John 7:38-39 – Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
John 8:24 – I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
John 10:9 – I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.
John 11:25-26 – Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
John 12:36 – Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.
John 17:3 – Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
John 20:31 – But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Remember, a handful of seemingly condemning works-based scriptures cannot negate the over 200 verses explaining that salvation is through faith in Christ alone. There must be another way to interpret them.
John 3:16 — For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Ephesians 2:8-9 — For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Christ is righteous. He obeyed the law perfectly and never sinned.
No other human is righteous on their own, as “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”, and, “our righteousness is but filthy menstrual rags.”
Humans cannot obtain self-righteousness through following the law, because all humans except Christ have broken the law.
However, we have available to us a righteousness apart from the law – a righteousness that is by faith in Christ.
When we believe the gospel, Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us, thus we have a righteousness that is not from following the law, but rather through faith in Christ.
John 3:15-17, 20, 23
[book] [chapter]:[beginning verse]-[end verse], [another verse in this chapter]
The sin talked about in Hebrews is the sin of unbelief.
When God looks at you – that is, your reborn inner man (your soul and spirit) – He sees the imputed righteousness of Christ. A righteousness apart from the law – a righteousness that is by faith in the gospel alone.
He doesn’t look at your dead, crucified, buried flesh and it’s evil deeds and judge that day-to-day. He’s dealt with that 2,000 years ago on the cross. “It is finished.” Sin debt paid in full.
No…He sees the real you – the reborn inner man. He has forgotten all of your sins, and has removed them “as far as the east is from the west.”
When you believe in Christ, you “follow” Him into His death, burial and resurrection.
The nanosecond you believe the gospel, you are “crucified” with Christ, “buried” with Him – putting off the old, dead, sinful flesh – your inner man is spiritually reborn, and then you are “raised” with Him to newness of life. This resurrection will be manifest in the resurrection at the rapture.
Christ was the first to be resurrected into His new sinless, incorruptible, spiritual body. There will be another resurrection for the believers – believers both in heaven and alive on earth – at the rapture.
In the resurrection at the rapture, Christ will descend into the clouds, and the believers that have already died will be resurrected into their new spiritual, sinless, incorruptible bodies, then they will be caught up into the clouds with Christ. Then the believers who are alive and remain, their bodies will be transformed into their new spiritual, sinless, incorruptible bodies, and will then be snatched up into the clouds with Christ, and then He will take us all to heaven for seven years.
During that seven years, Christ will pour out His wrath on an unbelieving world for seven years. This is called The Tribulation.
Water baptism by a pastor in a church is not required for salvation. Only believing the gospel for spiritual baptism by The Holy Spirit is required.
Romans 12:2 — And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Renew your mind daily. Meditate on these truths daily:
The Gospel
Christ died for ALL of my sins (past, present and future), was buried and rose from the dead the third day for my justification.
Christ said on the cross upon death, “It is finished!”, meaning — sin debt paid in full, nothing more to do.
The nanosecond I believed the gospel, I was indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit, which is the guarantee of my salvation.
The nanosecond I believed the gospel, I received the imputed righteousness of Christ. A righteousness apart from the law. A righteousness that is by faith. When God looks at me, He sees the righteousness of Christ – not my sinful flesh.
Positional Truths
I am:
Spiritual Baptism
The nanosecond I believed the gospel alone, I was spiritually baptized into Christ’s death, burial and resurrection by the Holy Spirit. I have been “crucified” (with my old sinful flesh dying), been “buried”, spiritually reborn with the righteousness of Christ, and have been “risen” to newness of life. In the resurrection at the rapture, I will receive my new spiritual, sinless, glorified, incorruptible body.
We don’t confess our sins and ask for forgiveness for each sin, every time we sin, in order to be forgiven at that moment for that sin. We’re already forgiven of our sins the nanosecond we believe the gospel, and all our sins are removed from us “as far as the East is from the west”,
Our sins are also forgotten the nanosecond we believe the gospel, so why keep reminding God of sins that were already dealt with on the cross?
When God looks at us, He is perfectly pleased with us, as He sees us with the imputed righteousness of Christ. Our sinful flesh has been crucified and buried with Christ. It’s dead. He doesn’t look at our dead, outer flesh’s performance…He looks at our renewed inner man that’s been reborn, made perfect and cannot sin because it has been born of incorruptible seed.
We don’t lose fellowship either every time we sin. If that were the case, no one would ever have fellowship with God. Again, our sin was dealt with on the cross – God’s righteous wrath, punishment and anger was poured out on Jesus on the cross. It was dealt with. We’ve been declared justified – He’s not going to bring it up again every time we sin.
Scripture says in 1 John 4:18 — There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
If we were to lose fellowship with God and be punished every time we sin, we would be living in fear, because fear has to do with punishment. But per the above scripture, we are to be made perfect in love, which casts out all fear, because there is no fear (punishment) in love.
Matthew chapters 5-7 may sound scary. But all Jesus is doing is elevating the law to its proper place to get His listeners to ask the question, “well who then can be saved?”
The answer is – no one can be saved by keeping the law, because no one can keep it perfectly. Thus, Jesus is getting them to start looking to the messiah (Him) for salvation, rather than by keeping the law (that they thought they were keeping perfectly).
The Bible is a pretty difficult read the first few times you read it. A lot of times it says a word that’s not specifically defined till later in the book, or even in another book. The wording and sentences can also be confusing, with long, run-on sentences. It also uses multiple words for the same definition. If I’m not lying, I hated reading the Bible the first few times I read it, because I barely understood what any of it meant. However, the more times you read it, the more connections you make, and the more it comes alive and becomes super exciting. Every time you read it, you learn something new. You see something new. You connect new things. It’s amazing. I’ve grown to love reading the Bible now (specifically the New Testament). Hopefully my notes will speed up your learning and understanding of the Bible. However, you have to accept the fact that us humans are just not going to understand everything the Bible has to say 100% until we get to heaven. There may seem like contradictions in the Bible, but God does not contradict Himself. Let yourself be at peace with this, and hold fast to the gospel. Below is a reading list to guide you:
Reading through the lens of grace vs law:
When reading the bible, you MUST read it through the lens of “grace.” If you read it through the lens of “law“, it will condemn you at every corner.
For example, see the note: The Works, The Will, The Command, The Overcomer, The Righteous, The Obedience
Just in the note title alone, if you were to come across those words reading the bible through the lens of “law”, you’d probably think that “The Works” are to follow the law and do good deeds, “The Will” is to follow the law, “The Command” is to follow the law, “The Overcomer” is one who turns from all their sins, “The Righteous” are those that follow the law and “The Obedience” are those that obey the law.
However, when you come across those words and read them through the lens of “grace”, you can see that they all pertain to simply believing in Jesus. *See note for full definitions.
Reading a verse in context:
You cannot cherry pick verses out of thin air and get their proper meaning. You have to understand the meaning of a verse based on (in order of importance):
Reading the entire book at once:
It greatly helps to read the entire book in one sitting (not the entire bible at once, but the book, example: John, Romans, Galatians, etc). This is because other parts of the book require the context of previous parts of the book to understand the book as a whole, and if you put it down for a day or so, you will easily forget what you read before. Most books in the New Testament can be read in under 30 minutes, as many are only a few chapters long. The lengthiest one, Matthew or Acts (28 chapters each), can be read in 2-3 hours.
Understanding the words’ original language meaning:
The original biblical texts that were divinely inspired by God were written in Hebrew and Aramaic (for the Old Testament), and Greek for the New Testament. English translations (and rather all other language translations) were translated from these original languages, and are not inspired by God, meaning, they aren’t perfect in translation, which is why there’s so many revisions of the Bible in other languages. Let’s talk about the New Testament: English is a rather poor language to use for reading the Bible, and the original Greek is excellent. Why? Because in the original Greek texts, there will be, say, four different words that have a different meaning, yet in English, the same English word is used for all four different Greek words, making the English version confusing and muddled. So, what do we have to do in our English translations to understand a verse that contains a word that isn’t clear? We have to get to the root of that word in its original Greek meaning. We can do this through what is known as The Strong’s Concordance and the Thayer’s Greek Lexicon. Strong’s is named after the author James Strong, and Thayer’s is named after the author Joseph Thayer. What Strong has done, is given each word in the bible a number, and provided its definition in the Greek. Example, Strongs G726 (Greek 726) is the Greek word of “harpazo”, and is the original greek word behind the phrase “caught up” in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 in the English translation. Harpazo in the Greek means “To seize, snatch, take away by force”. When you’re reading an English Bible and don’t understand the meaning of a word, look it up in Strong’s and Thayer’s Greek Lexicon. To do this, simply Google the book and chapter you want, along with the “Strongs” keyword. For example, if you were reading 1 Thessalonians 4:17 and wanted to know what the word “caught up” means in the original greek, simply Google “Strongs 1 Thessalonians 4:17” and look for Bible Hub’s (biblehub.com) “1 Thessalonians 4 KJV + Strong’s” webpage. Once you click on that, it will show the chapter in the King James Version bible, where you can click the specific word you’re looking for, and it will go to a new page where it will give you the Strong’s definition of the word, and if not more importantly, the Thayer’s Greek Lexicon for the specific meaning of the word in context of that verse. Thayer’s can be lengthy, because it provides the meaning of the greek word in all its various forms throughout the bible, so just do a simple search on the page for the verse you’re looking for (example: 1 Thessalonians 4:17) and it will bring you to the specific meaning for the Greek word in that verse context.
“Christians” (mainly fake ones) like to think that all their sins were taken care of by Christ on the cross, but the sin of homosexuality for gays wasn’t – like homosexuality is some sort of extra, super sinful sin that Christ couldn’t pay for.
The raw truth is that homosexuality is indeed considered a sin in the Bible and to God, as God made woman for man, and man for woman – not man for man or woman for woman. However, homosexuality is just another sin – that Christ paid for on the cross with His blood! And as long as a homosexual believes that Christ paid for that sin (and any other sins they may have), they are saved. Homosexuality is considered adultery. You know what else Jesus said is adultery? Even lusting over another person is considered adultery. So everyone on earth has committed the sin of adultery — Matthew 5:27-28 — “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” You know what else is considered adultery to God? Divorce. And how many people on this earth have gotten a divorce? Matthew 5:31-32 — “Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.” Thank God for Jesus’ sacrifice!
Jesus said on the cross in John 19:28-30 that “it is finished (meaning – all humanity’s sin debt paid in full)” — After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished [all sins paid for], that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished! [humanity’s sin debt paid in full]” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
He didn’t say, “It is finished… well… most of it. I paid for every sin except homosexuality.”
And know that believing that Christ paid for your sin of homosexuality doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll instantly become straight. I know a few homosexual believers who still struggle with homosexual tendencies – years and years later after becoming saved. The important thing is to always, “Get your butt back to the gospel”, meaning, meditate on the gospel found in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 — how Christ died to pay for all your sins (including homosexuality), was buried and rose again the third day for your justification, according to the scriptures.
And rest well knowing that you’re more saved than the religious person next to you who condemns you for being a homosexual, and thinks that they’re all holy and righteous and are going to heaven because of it: Luke 18:9-14 — Also He [Jesus] spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee [religious leader] and the other a tax collector [most disgusted by the Jews]. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner [possibly a homosexual?]!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Just remember – God loves the person, not the sin.
Lol. Can you find one anymore? A church that doesn’t preach some sort of front loaded or back loaded works-based salvation? It’s impossible. Especially not after the rapture – the snatching away of the only true Christians that have faith alone in Christ alone – no works. For, who will be all the “christians” left behind? Those that trusted in their works. So who will preach to you the truth? No churches that are left. That’s for sure.
How to find a true church:
In 1 John 5:9-13, John says that we can know for sure that we’re saved by if we believe in Christ – not by if we have a changed life of less sin: “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
In Matthew 7:21-23 we can see that many will bring their works to show that they’re saved, ultimately to be rejected by having their faith in their works: “Not everyone who says to Me [Jesus], ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father [John 6:40 — the will of the Father is to believe in Jesus] in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name [a work they bring], cast out demons in Your name [a work they bring], and done many wonders in Your name [works they bring]?’ And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity [the sin of unbelief].
It’s not by having a changed life, sinning less, being a better person, etc. It’s by faith alone in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).
You can’t see someone’s salvation. But you can know they’re saved by their testimony of faith alone in the gospel. Hebrews 11:1 — Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen [their salvation].
One of the Holy Spirit’s jobs for the believer is to convict them of their imputed righteousness in Christ. The Holy Spirit convicts the unbelievers of their sin, in order to lead them to Christ for salvation: John 16:8-11 — And when He [The Holy Spirit] has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me [unbelievers convicted of sin]; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more [to remind the believer of their righteousness in Christ]; of judgment, because the ruler of this world [Satan] is judged.
The Tribulation outline:
Detailed outline:
The gospel found in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 is: [1] that Christ died to pay for all your sins (past, present and future) according to the scriptures, [2] He was buried and [3] He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
By believing in the above gospel alone (and not adding any works to it), you are eternally saved and sealed – guaranteeing your salvation.
Front-loading and back-loading works into the gospel is just that – adding works to the pure, simply gospel message, rendering it a false gospel that doesn’t save anyone who believes in it.
What are works? [1] You can “work” the law by following the law. [2] Doing good deeds.
The true gospel that saves (salvation) = Faith + Nothing
What is front-loading the gospel with works?
It is flat out saying that in addition to faith in the gospel, you must “turn from your sins” to be saved, which is essentially following the law to be saved. It is trusting partly in Christ’s sacrifice, but mostly in your own works of law keeping.
False front-loaded gospel (that doesn’t save) = Faith + Works
What is back-loading the gospel with works?
This is the most deceitful, deceptive, fearful and evil false gospel out there, and there are many who claim to be Christian that fall for it. Back-loading works into the gospel is essentially saying that faith alone – no works – is salvation, but, if you don’t have a sufficiently changed life (which cannot be explained or quantified because it’s not in the bible), or you’re, “living like the devil” (again, cannot be explained or quantified because it’s not in the bible), you’re not truly saved. What this logic leads to, is to you examining yourself and saying to yourself, “Man, I don’t know if I’m truly saved because I don’t think I have a sufficiently changed life. I mean, I still commit this sin and that sin. I better turn from those sins to prove I’m truly saved.” Thus, “back-loading” works in the gospel (turning from “this” sin and “that” sin to prove you’re saved). So, when you go before Christ and He says, “Why should I let you into heaven?”, and you say, “Well, I believe in you and to prove it I’ve turned from this sin and that sin and that other sin.” This false gospel leads most people into some serious fear, depression and anxiety because they never have assurance of salvation because they know that they never measure up. The others who love this false gospel are so prideful and blinded that they actually think that they have a sufficiently changed life (based on their criteria) and have turned from all their sins, which they haven’t. So, a back-loaded gospel is saying, “You’re saved by faith alone, but if you haven’t turned from all your sins, you didn’t really believe.”
False back-loaded gospel (that doesn’t save) = Faith + Nothing + (having a truly changed life of law keeping)
Matthew 7:21-23 tells us that Christ will reject these people and their false gospels — “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father [the will of the Father is in John 6:40 — to believe in Jesus — not to “obey the law”] in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name [brought their works of prophesying], cast out demons in Your name [brought their works of exorcism], and done many wonders in Your name [brought many of their other works]?’ And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity (the iniquity of unbelief).
Luke 18:9-14 — Also He (Jesus) spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Law
God has laws – the 10 commandments. Much like how a country has laws. There’s due punishment for breaking one of those laws.
Accounts
You have an account with God – an account that stores all of the bad deeds (sins) you’ve ever committed. All humans have their account with God.
Jesus is God, but became a human (fully human, fully God) and also had account with God.
Justice
God is a holy and just God – meaning that a bad deed cannot go unpunished. Much like how in the U.S. if you commit a crime, “you do the time.”
The Judgement
Just like when you commit a crime in the U.S., you go before the judge to get your due punishment.
Same way with God. At the end of this present evil age, all will go before God – the judge – to give an account of everything they’ve ever done to break his law, and they will receive due punishment – eternal separation from God in hell.
The Cross – The Switch
In the U.S., if you commit a crime that must be punished, what if you could have someone who hasn’t committed a crime, take that punishment for you? In the U.S., you can’t. You yourself must pay your own penalty.
However, with God, He does allow someone who has never committed a sin against Him to take the punishment for you in your place. There’s only one person that ever lived and will ever live that has a perfectly clean account with God – Jesus!
So what did God do to Jesus on the cross? He opened your account. Took all of your sins and put them on Jesus’ clean account, and punished Jesus on the cross. Now you have a perfectly clean account and when you stand before God – the judge – He’ll open up your account and see a perfectly clean account, and can let you into heaven!
Believe
There’s only one requirement, and it’s dead simple. You must believe that Christ did this for you, and you will be forgiven of all your sins. If you try and bring your own good deeds (works), you will be rejected. Just as in the U.S., if you steal something, you can’t just say, “Well I’ll just give $50 to charity and we’ll call it even.” You must pay the penalty!
And you also can’t take the mark of the beast, or else game over.
What are the “works”, the “will”, the “overcomer”, the “command”, the “obedience” and the “righteous” of God? Let’s find out:
The Works
John 6:28-29 — Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
The Will
John 6:40 — For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
The Command
1 John 3:23 — And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
The Overcomer
1 John 5:5 — Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
The Righteous
Romans 1:17 — For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
The Obedience
Romans 16:26 — but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith