Gods joy

[rl69]

Hebrews 12:2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

Gods joy is our salvation.

[USMC87]

Amen!

[dtknowles]

Do you think you ever brought great joy to the heavenly host????

Tim

[rl69]

I do

but I have also brought great grief

[Ickisrulz]

Luke 15:10 "....there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

We infer God is the one who is rejoicing and his angles witness this.

[Boaz]

Praise GOD !

[Bzcraig]

Hebrews 12:2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

If we could just get a glimpse of the "joy awaiting him!" I know I would not have to contend with my flesh so often!

Gods joy is our salvation.


Do you think you ever brought great joy to the heavenly host????

Tim

Absolutely! Luke 15:10

[Ickisrulz]

Do you think you ever brought great joy to the heavenly host????

Tim

This is a great question and depends on your understanding of what makes God happy.

For the Christian the revelations about pleasing God are found within the Bible. Christians understand we must have faith to be pleasing to God. Of course faith must have evidence. We cannot say be believe God has forgiven us because of Jesus and then live a life devoted to sin.

[dtknowles]

I have turned away from sin and done good works and I am sure heaven has rejoiced but my work is not done until I can work no more.

Tim

[sparky45]

Well stated Tim.

[Bzcraig]

I have turned away from sin and done good works and I am sure heaven has rejoiced but my work is not done until I can work no more.

Tim

Well spoken! I see no 'retirement' in the Bible from doing good works!

[jcwit]

But doing good works does not save, Faith is what saves.

Good works come naturally for those who have True Faith.

[rl69]

I have turned away from sin and done good works and I am sure heaven has rejoiced but my work is not done until I can work no more.

Tim

i have no earthly idea who's name is written in the lambs book of life.and i truly hope heaven has rejoiced over your name. But it didn't do so over your works! This scripture teaches us his joy is in our salvation, and only threw Jesus Christ is that acopmplished.

We we are taught threw scripture he doesn't want our sacrifices he wants our love,our faith,and our fellowship. And again that can only be done threw Jesus Christ

[Boaz]

By faith , not works . Yes

[Pine Baron]

By faith , not works . Yes

Agreed.
Also as jcwit says:
"Good works come naturally for those who have True Faith."

[Preacher Jim]

my faith causes me to desire to do good works.

[dtknowles]

But doing good works does not save, Faith is what saves.

Good works come naturally for those who have True Faith.

I don't doubt this at all, if the goodness is in your heart then you yearn to do good works.

Tim

[dtknowles]

i have no earthly idea who's name is written in the lambs book of life.and i truly hope heaven has rejoiced over your name. But it didn't do so over your works! This scripture teaches us his joy is in our salvation, and only threw Jesus Christ is that acopmplished.

We we are taught threw scripture he doesn't want our sacrifices he wants our love,our faith,and our fellowship. And again that can only be done threw Jesus Christ

That is right, I am sure they could tell when I changed my ways not by my good works but by my change of heart.

Tim

[Blackwater]

With regard to the OP, could this be why God lets bad things happen to good people? Many are hung up on the idea that God rewards the Christian and punishes the unbeliever and the evil. Yet that's not what the Bible says. It says it'll rain on the just and the unjust alike. The belief that God protects the good and faithful from all pain and trial is wishful thinking, and a byproduct of PC, IMO, and yet, it's almost as common as dirt. All Christ promised us is that no matter what we face in life, He'd be standing right by us, to provide solace, courage and faithfulness if only we'd reach out to Him and accept it.

And the Bible also tells us "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved," and "I am the way, the Truth and the life, and no man comes to the Father except by me." That kind'a sums up real salvation. It's necessary to accept Christ, and the sacrifice He made for all our sins, whatever they may be, and in total. Once we are truly "saved," He casts any past sins away as far as the East is from the West. And we're told there IS no other way, no half measures, no pretensions. We can't depend on "good works" or warm fuzzy feelings to get us to Heaven. The pathway to Heaven has been laid out definitively, and it's up to us to either follow it, or not. This is the great "secret" of salvation. How could it really be otherwise, when God sent his Son to us to be born, live and die as a man, and to show us the way, and teach us all that we need to know? Any variation in that plan, set forth for us all by God himself, and through the Son, is, at least according to my reading of the Bible, the route to something other than salvation. There IS no salvation without belief in Jesus Christ, according to the Bible.

Those who believe in God, but not in Christ, are putting all their faith and hopes in a half measure, and with all that God has given us by which to come to true Light, it may well be fitting in His view, that those who can't or won't or don't accept the full package may not be fit for entry into Heaven. What would Heaven be like if "close enough" was all it took to get there? We see in our world today what "diversity in opinion" yields, and it isn't pretty. How could Heaven be truly Heaven if it weren't kept pure and held to a certain inviolate standard? Even a small taint can make water poison to us here. Is it like that in Heaven, where a small taint ruins the whole? It seems very likely according to my reading of the Bible. God is God, and as such, compromises rarely. We're advised that He judges things and people with the finest of dividing lines between what's acceptable and what's not. Denial of His Son, in all that I read, tends to indicate that this would be unacceptable to Him. But opinions vary, of course, and some read the Bible with a view towards making of it what they will, rather than for its true content. I personally leave it up to the Lord to exercise His good judgment in regard to those folks, and make no pretense of actually having the inside line to what and how God and Christ actually think. But by the best evidence He left us, the Bible, this is what I've gathered from it all. And I accept it as it is, and insofar as I am able to understand it.

Salvation is and always has been, and always will be, a very personal and individual thing, and each of us must decide and act on our own volition in dealing with the issue. Some like to make up their own concepts out of the realm of their own minds. But the Bible indicates this is the way to perdition, I believe. Personally, I wouldn't want to trust my own sensibilities to create a different way to Heaven than the one that is outlined in the Bible for us. Even my young Down's syndrome cousin can understand enough of the Bible to have real faith and trust in the Lord, and accept the salvation that is so freely offered to us all. But it's up to each of us, individually and definitively, to decide whether or not to accept the Truth that I believe we all have within us from birth. Mostly, I believe all we have to do is LET it come to the surface, and not continually keep it suppressed.

We can't see magnetism, but we can see its effects, and from those effects, we can infer that it does indeed exist, even though we'll never see it, really. Since God "breathed the breath of life" in each of us, or all of us as a species, we have had a tiny spark of His divinity within us. But we have a lot of other stuff in us, too, and these elements battle within us constantly throughout our lives. Which one we choose to be master of our lives determines whether we will be saved, or whether we find pathways to other realms. How could it not be so?

[Bzcraig]

Guys, you've gotten off track, this was not about salvation. And you are right and the book of James explains faith without works is dead and the doctrines related to each.