If you must do anything to maintain your salvation you are not saved, you are on probation. 
  I CANNOT save myself, I CANNOT keep myself saved, I CANNOT even will at all times to be willing to keep myself saved.  You, however, are different.  You CAN save yourself, you CAN keep yourself saved, and you CAN be willing at all times to be willing.   
  Those of you who must DO something to keep yourselves saved, ready for the rapture, maintain acceptance by God or any other thing I have the utmost understanding of and compassion for, having trod that road myself.  I still fight with the law of sin and death, mostly because I hear it all the time from Christian radio so-called and preachers of the gospel -again, so-called- that use the law as a cudgel to -keep their people in line-.  Thank God for the Lord Jesus.  HE is the resurrection and the life.
  We are not subject to the law of sin and death, and those who claim that when they sin they seek for God to forgive them don't know their Bible, because without the shedding of blood their is NO remission, and the wages of sin are not broken fellowship with God, they are not a feeling of mortification or estrangement, they are not a hindrance in prayer, they are death.  Flat out no other, death.  Death is the wages of sin, and without the shedding of blood there is NO remission.  So, whose blood shall it be?  Yours?  Will you seek to crucify the Lord Jesus again and again every time you -sin-, or will you finally come to not only the cross but that empty tomb and get life everlasting as a gift?  It's one or the other;  death and blood for remission of sins or life that death can't touch.  There is no possible admixture of the two.   
  It is totally against the flesh to be saved without your having any hand in the matter.  The flesh both requires and demands -and demands most loudly and continually- that you have something, anything, to do with your salvation.  Surely there is something I must do, surely there is something I can do, surely there is something required of me that will complete the work of Christ or at least make the work of Christ more sure.  Surely there is something I can do that will cause God to favor me.  Surely I can earn through my own efforts merit with God.  Pray.  Give money.  Witness.  Fast.  Pray more.  Read my Bible every day.  Fast more often.  Pray even more.  Fast for longer periods.  Give more money.  Go to church every time the doors are opened.  Have more faith.  Surely the wrath of God will be assuaged, surely I will earn favor with God if I do these things and more and do them more often and with greater fervor.     
  There is one way out of that vicious rat-race, His name is Jesus Christ, and there is no other way.   
 
  IF you must do anything to be saved (including generate faith) or to -keep- your salvation then you are an enemy of the cross of Christ. 

 
  Galatians 3:13  Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
  Hebrews 9:22  And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
  Ephesians 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

  finney

  Question 1:  How do you get and then stay ready?  If it's by something you do, then your salvation from wrath is dependent upon you. 
  Question 2:  If you are made worthy by going through the tribulation (assuming you survive it), what then did the Lord Jesus die for? 


  1:  Romans 5:9  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
  2:  Matthew 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

  finney

  I'm writing this on the fly, I've got to go to the hardware store. 
  Some things I'll write as a fishing expedition. Yes, I think things like this matter but I'm not always sure in what way they matter.  By that I mean do they matter as in position or do they matter in apprehension or do they matter in performance or a combination of those three and more or.... 
  I know this:  My Father is so anxious to save that He sent His only begotten, dearly beloved, perfect in loving obedience Son (let's talk about Him, instead) here as our sacrifice that He gave on our behalf even when we could care less.  Does it matter what we believe?  Yes!  Is who we believe more important or equally important?  Let me first ask a question before we attempt to come to grips with that:  Do you have perfect understanding?  Do you have perfect knowledge?  Are you saved? 

  When you were saved, did you have the same level of understanding that you have now?  Are you more saved now than then?

  I look forward to your posts, I don't get to talk to Christians very often (very seldom, actually).  May iron do to iron what iron does to iron.

  finney   

  Yes.  I'm from the "I don't care 'cause it don't make a difference" school myself.  I believe the evidence both internal and external (i.e. Jewish wedding festivities lasting seven days) point to the catching away to meet the Lord in the air occurring seven years previous to His return to set up His kingdom.  What one believes about this matter as far as timing goes doesn't seem to be as important as what one believes concerning the return of the Lord Jesus to this planet.  I can see people being Christians and disagreeing about the timing of an event; I can't see where one can deny His return and be so. 
  What do you think?  Can someone deny the physical return of Jesus Christ to this planet and be a Christian?  Does that call for a new thread?
  finney

  I better qualify that post:  Romans 5:9, 1Thessalonians 1:10, 1Thessalonians 5:9.  That's three witnesses. There's more.  Now let's look here:  There are thirteen verses in the book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ that mention wrath; one mentions the wrath of the devil, the other twelve pertain to the wrath of God, from which we are saved.  Just a thought.
finney

  Well.  You guys seem to be doing a pretty good job here of not sinking to name calling and such like.  I have a question about this; aren't we saved from wrath?
finney