08/11/2005 6:21:42 AM PDT
· 48 of 72 jtminton
to annalex; jo kus; rdb3; Rosary
Proper confession is, of course, impossible without faith in Christ. A sin, once confessed and repented for, is absolved. That sinner will sin again. There is, however, only one judgement. At that time his salvation will depend, under the sovereign will of Christ, on the sum total of his unconfessed sin. Indeed, even assuming the unknowable, -- that all sin is confessed and absolved at the time of death, -- the salvation is not merited by the act of confession, but granted by the sovereign Christ.
There is no way possible to confess every sin you have ever committed. On top of that, even ONE sin will keep you from fellowship with God. The ONLY reason we have fellowship with God is because His Son Jesus died for the sins of the world. He was, and is, the only sinless person ever to walk this Earth. Grace is giving us what we don't deserve (eternal life with God) when we shouldn't get it (sinful life).
As far as absolved sin, sin never goes away. You cannot un-sin. You can confess your sins (to God) and you will be forgiven and cleansed of unrighteousness, but your sin is still there. It's simply covered by the Blood of Christ, and therefore ignored by God.
As far as Salvation goes:
"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." - Ephesians 2:8-9
"that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." - Romans 10:9
Salvation is by Grace thorough Faith.
So according to you, what is it I don't understand?
We drove out towards the Bush ranch a couple of years ago. You can't really see much, except for a large presence of cops/Secret Service people. That road is the most well groomed (treewise) two lane highway I have ever seen. It looked like they took a big square cookie cutter and drove it down the road. It was neat, although we were followed back to town after we turned around to head back to Crawford.