Friday, November 14, 2008

It's already here

“...if you want to be saved, you must accept a prepared salvation, on already prepared and full and present. You must be wiling to give up al your sins and be saved from them—now and forever. Until you agree to this, you cannot be save at all. Many people would be willing to be saved in heave, if they could hold on to some sins while on earth—or rather they think they would like heaven on such terms. But the fact is, they would dislike a pure heart and a holy life in heaven as much as they do on earth, and they utterly deceive themselves in supposing that they are ready or even willing to go to the heaven that God has prepared for His people. No, there can be no heaven except for those who accept a salvation from all sin in this wold. They must take the Gospel as a system that hold no compromise with sin—a system that intends full deliverance from sin even now, and makes provisions accordingly. Any other gospel is not the true one, and to accept Christ's Gospel in any other sense is not to accept it at all. Its first and its last condition is sworn and eternal renunciation of all sin.—Charles Finney, God's Call, pages 170-171

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wonder if Jesus really expected the adulterous woman to "sin no more." Haven't seen anyone do it in my lifetime. Was Jesus just inspiring the woman to strive for righteousness? Or was this floating pericope a bit of literary invention?

jps said...

Scott,

I believe he did—but only by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. That's what I John is all about, it is what grace really means: the indwelling presence of God allowing you to live in Romans 8 and Hebrews 3 & 4. Those are promises for today, not pie-in-the-sky promises for later.

The problem with so much "gospel-preaching" is that it fails to preach the gospel. It fails to show that Christ died to deliver us from SIN, not just sins, i.e., the power of sin as a principle.

James

Joel and Renée said...

I will echo Scott's thought:
"Haven't seen anyone do it in my lifetime."
If the power of Jesus and his indwelling presence is to remove SIN, then why do we not see it anywhere?
-Renee