First, consider the love of the Lord Jesus in restoring a wandering believer. Nothing except infinite, tender, unchanging love could prompt him to such an act. There is so much gloomy ingratitude and deep wickedness in the sin of a believer's departure from the Lord, that�except for the nature of Christ's love�there could be no possible hope of his return.
Now this costly love of Christ is above all seen in his taking the first step in restoring the soul. The first advance is on the part of the Lord. There is no more self-recovery after conversion than there is before. It is entirely the Lord's work. The same state of mind, the same principle, that led to the first step in drifting from God, leads on to each successive one; until�except for restraining and restoring grace�the soul would take an everlasting farewell of God. But note the expression of David�"He restores my soul." Who? He of whom the first verse identifies as his Shepherd�"The Lord is my Shepherd." It is the Good Shepherd who takes the first step to recover the wandering sheep.
If there is one aspect of this subject more stirring than any other, it is this�that such should be the tender, unchanging love of Jesus towards his wandering child that he should take the first step in restoring him. Shall an offended, insulted Sovereign make the first move toward conciliating a rebellious people?�that Sovereign is Jesus! Shall an outraged Father seek his wandering child, to restore him to his affections and his house?�that Father is God!
Oh, what love it is that leads Jesus to search for his wandering child!�love that will not let him quite depart; love that yearns and seeks after him; love that pursues him through all his devious way, his convoluted wanderings, his distant departures; love that no unkindness has been able to cool, no forgetfulness has been able to weaken, no distance has been able to destroy!
No less conspicuous is the power of Jesus in restoring the soul. "He restores my soul,"�he, the omnipotent Shepherd. We need omnipotence to bring us back when we have wandered. Nothing less can accomplish it. We need the same power that converted to re-convert. We need the power that created, to re-create us. And this is the power that Jesus possesses. It was essential to the full salvation of his church that he should have it. Therefore, when praying to his Father, he says, "You have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him" (John 17:2). It was necessary that he should have power over all flesh, yes, over all the powers leagued against the church, that he should bring to glory all who were given to him in the covenant of grace.
Now this power is gloriously exerted in restoring the soul. Jesus works in the believer, in order to effect his recovery. He breaks down the hard heart, arrests the soul in its onward progress of departure, places upon it some powerful restraint, lays it low, humbles it, and then draws from it the blessed confession, "Behold, I am vile; but he restores my soul."
My question is if one really is a christian how do you post such material that has no truth in it other than the scripture, one can readily hear the voice of reasoning, the intellect, in all his writings.
The soul as in this sitting is not man it is his, mind, will and emotions.
The soul is man's responsibility, it is not a work of Jesus.
Jas 1:21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
No man can ever know God thru his mind.
Notice the the believer is to receive the en-grafted word with meekness which is able to save his soul.
Meekness is to be teachable!1
Save the soul, is the same as in Romans 12: 1 � I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
The responsibility is upon man to receive the word of God that his mind might be renewed, for the mind is not changed in the new birth, man's mind is part of his natural being and it is always at enmity with God.
1Pe 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
There is a picture of the real man!!
Eph 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
Eph 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
In the post this man also proclaims that Jesus rules over our flesh, again in complete denial of what the bible teaches, Man is to rule over his flesh. As illustrated in verse one of Romans 12:1
Truth and love do not irritate the heart that thirst and hungers after righteousness, and hearing voices should never be a question, for they are many voices in this world, the assurance is to those that know him, will not follow the voice of a stranger.
Knowing the truth is not a so called revelation, it is a result of the word of God planted in the heart of man that agrees with the word of God and is a doer there of.
The "Carnal Christian Theory" is another of the teachings of "Easy Christianity" designed to take the pressure off the average church-goer.. The "great" thing about this teaching is that it also takes pressure off the teachers of "Easy Christianity." Time was that if "converts" went on in or went back to their ungodly lifestyles, they were labeled hypocrites or apostates. Now they are called "Carnal Christians." This looks much better for the evangelists' statistics and avoids painful evaluation of his message and methods.
What is the "Carnal Christian Theory"? Let its advocated explain! "After you have invited Christ to come into your life, it is possible for you to take control of your life again. The New Testament, 1 Corinthians 2:14-3:3, identifies three kinds of people... These three kinds of people are "the natural man", "the carnal man", and "the spiritual man". The carnal man is the "Christian who has invited Christ into his life," but "is not trusting God" and in rebellion against the lordship of Christ has "taken control of his life again." This is the theory as it is taught in the notes of a popular study Bible and the tracts of a well-known evangelistic organization. Many regard themselves as Christians because of it who are nevertheless under the wrath of God. Like false prophets its teachers cry, "Peace, peace; where there is no peace" (Jeremiah. 6:14 and 8:11).
Don't you be deceived by them! Examine the Scriptures. The entire New Testament testifies against this theory. Read Romans 8:1-17, Ephesians 5:3-7, Galatians 5:19-26. Galatians. 5:24 epitomizes their teaching, "Those who belong to Christ have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires." If your sinful nature has not been crucified by the grace of Christ, you are not a carnal Christian. You are no Christian and need to become one.
The idea that a man may have Christ in his life but not on the throne of his life is the heart of the "Carnal Christian Theory." We noticed already that this dangerous doctrine is contradicted by the entire New Testament. What about 1 Corinthians 3:1-4, its supposed proof-text, does it teach this theory?
The Apostle Paul was not only divinely inspired, but also perfectly sane--not given to contradicting himself in the space of a few lines. In the same letter he made perfectly clear what he would have said about this modern theory. "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral not idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).
All Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:1-4 is that Christians can and do sometimes in some areas of their lives act like unconverted, worldly men. "Are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? for when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos, " are you not mere men?" (1 Corinthians 3:3,4).
It is one thing in some areas at some times to act like unconverted men, it is something else to be a carnal man as to the dominant characteristic of one's life. Of such the Bible says, "their place will be the fiery lake of burning sulfur" (Revelation 21:8). May God deliver you from going to the place where all "Carnal Christians" will go!
I Corinthinas chapter 1:1 Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly;mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly(meaning carnal/natural minded). For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly?
Good try but it is usually what you say is your reflection, that did not apply to me twenty years ago, but it does apply to any Calvinist I have ever heard communicate towards the word, I have yet to see one with any light.
