"Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you fail the test?" (2 Cor. 13:5).
What kind of a Christian are you? Have you ever sat down and asked yourself that? Are you a Christian with your heart and mind in the world and your feet in the church? Or, are you the kind that seeks to do God's will as revealed in Scripture? Whichever one you are, the Bible tells you to examine yourself to see if you are in the faith. Have you done that? Have you examined your beliefs, your actions, your motives and compared them to scripture to see what kind of a Christian you are? Are you submitting your life to God or God to your life?
This is an important question. No one should simply take it for granted that he is saved because he is born into a Christian family, or is a good person, or is sincere in heart and mind, or thinks that God is so loving that he'll let everyone into heaven. These things do not make anyone a Christian nor do they guarantee anything with God. Only faith in Christ (Rom. 5:1), trust in Him alone for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 4:12), receiving Him (John 1:12) is what being born again is about. It means to be changed from the inside because the Lord has changed you, saved you, and the Holy Spirit is now in you.
The following is the reason why I'm not a fan of summaries:
Quote:
Do you confess that you cannot please God through your own efforts? (Isa. 64:6)
The Israelites in Isaiah 64 weren't even trying to please God, let alone seeking to know Him.
Context:
Isaiah 64:5-7 (NIV)
5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved? 6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. 7 No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to[a] our sins.
Footnotes:
a. Isaiah 64:7 Septuagint, Syriac and Targum; Hebrew have made us melt because of
In verse 5, when they were obeying out of their own efforts, God rewarded that by giving them help/favor, but when they started sinning, and continued / persisted in their sin, thus when they were disobeying out of their own efforts, God rewarded that too (by not giving them favor but abandoning them to their sin and destruction as the chapter goes on to describe).
Including "out of their own efforts" makes it seem like they were actually trying to keep the Law of God, but in reality, they were rejecting God's Law and doing something else. >_>; emotion_sweatdrop
Slick's way of summarizing Isaiah 64:6 not only denies the context of Isaiah 64 (not that pleasing God out of their own effort was the problem, but that pleasing Him, the way He said, wasn't even their intent), but the way he summarized the verse denies other verses in the New Testament as well.
1 John 3:22 (NIV)
22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 (NIV)
4 As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.
2 For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control your own body[a] in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. 7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8 Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.
Footnotes:
a. 1 Thessalonians 4:4 Or learn to live with your own wife; or learn to acquire a wife b. 1 Thessalonians 4:6 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family.
One could argue it was the Holy Spirit moving them to obey in the New Testament, but as long as the obedience was led by faith in God, it was possible to please God prior to being in-dwelled by the Holy Spirit the way we are under the New Covenant.
Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
1 Kings 3:9-12 (NIV)
9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”
10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 11 So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, 12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.
God didn't make Solomon ask for this, but it pleased God that Solomon did. Solomon pleased God out of his own doing.
My word of warning is to always check what the verses and chapters are actually saying. To allow ourselves to accept a man's summary of what God's Word says, when the summary deviates from what is actually written, is the leaven of the Pharisees (man's teachings taking the place of what's actually written in God's Word).
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