The BIG Picture (Q&A)

When we read that Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost (Luke 1:35), and that “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6), it may seem unnecessary for Him to be baptized to receive the Spirit. But a rightly divided view of Scripture shows His baptism was not for personal cleansing or regeneration, but for obedience, consecration, and manifestation. Water baptism under John was a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins (Mark 1:4). It was a washing, a cleansing of Israel in preparation for their Messiah (Acts 22:16). All Israel had to be baptized because they were sinners in need of washing. But Jesus was without sin (Heb.4:15; 1Pet.2:22). He had no need of cleansing, for He was holy from conception, born of the Spirit and untouched by Adam’s fallen nature. His baptism therefore was not for washing, but for fulfilling righteousness (Matt.3:15). Christ’s baptism served several divine purposes. First, it was the means by which He was publicly manifested to Israe...

Even after justification, the soul of the believer continues to indwell a body of sin and death. Sin and death continue to be a functional law within our mortal body. The issue moving forward now is not your justification; that is a done deal. Nothing can change our justification and peace with God through Jesus Christ. The issue moving forward is whether you're going to live under God or under sin. Paul draws attention to this choice by saying, Rom 6:11-13  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  (12)  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.  (13)  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Notice that Paul is not yet even talking about law. At this point in Rom.6, it's not ...

YOUR QUESTION: Observe that not ALL are imputed with Jesus’ righteousness whether they believe it or not, the two actions are not comparable. Jesus’ imputation of righteousness ONLY works with the additional requirements of faith and belief, without which you are still damned. Do infant deaths go straight to hell? Do aborted children go straight to hell? Do mentally challenged people go straight to hell? MY ANSWER: There is something else you need to be aware of that will explain God’s judgement on infants, the unborn or the mentally challenged. Let me take time and provide you with all the details. What your question does not account for is  accountability  itself. Though the Bible does not mention this explicitly, it is easy to validate this based on scriptures that allude to this understanding. Let me provide some examples of proof. God’s judgement is upon those who are accountable for their choices Rom 1:18-21 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven...

Let me answer the points in your question with some facts. Sin has separated us from God. The bible says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” (Rom 3:23). We cannot restore that relationship. We never could and we never will be able. You see, sin is in our nature. It’s not our works or efforts that is the issue, it is us ourselves. It is our very nature that is at enmity with God. The bible says,  Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. No good works or efforts that you do, to appease God or try to earn favour with Him, will count for anything! Again, the problem lies inside of us, inside our very nature as humans. So then, what is the answer to your question? If we cannot do anything to find peace with God, how can we be saved? Well, the bible gives us these answers too. God has provided us with grace through Jesus Christ. The answer is to believe in Jesus, the Son of God. Jesus wi...

When you consider the progression of the dispensations and that in each dispensation, God had a different relationship with humans, the answer to this question becomes clear. As a simple example, consider that when Noah lived, there was no Israel nation and Mosaic law. Obviously, Jesus had not come yet and there was no prophesy concerning His life and death. So, how then would Noah be saved? It could not be by Jesus or the cross! When we understand progressive dispensations and we take the text in the Bible for what it is, then the answers start to form in the Word. Noah and his family were saved because Noah obeyed God’s word. What was God’s good news to Noah? Build a boat. So, Noah obeyed God and built a boat and became an heir of the righteousness which is by faith. Heb 11:7  By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is...

  Statement All these negative statements promoting the flesh is not good for Christians who wants to be overcomers on Christ Jesus. It's not that I am saying anyone can be sin free, but we should tend to be like Christ. Instead of yielding to sin simply because grace is available. Your pattern of thinking is why some pastors drink, fornicate, cheat, hate, embittered, murder, smoke, exhibit pride and greed because they feel, after all, they cannot beat sin. It's not the number of years as a Christian but your authority in Christ as His soldier. Do you believe in prayers and warfare? Do you believe in binding and casting? You cannot be able to pray battle prayers when you believe carnality is part of a Christian. Answer God’s grace is there for you because of the exceeding love and power of the cross. However, it shows that you still have a way to grow in the knowledge and understanding of God’s foundational truths in the letter of Romans. If you read Romans 6 you will see that...

Question: So, I can continue in sin because Christ had imputed righteousness in me? Or I can commit adultery, watch porn, hate people, keep malice, cheat, and still have right standing with God? Answer: Christ’s righteousness imputed to you freely when you believe in Him is unaffected by the sins you commit. The reason is because it is HIS righteousness upon you, not your own righteousness or unrighteousness, Rom.3:21-22. By the way: Your list of sins above can also include sins like stealing a pen from work, thinking a bad thought, hurting someone's feelings, causing your brother to stumble in faith, violating your conscience. These sins are as heinous and vile to God as the ones you listed above. Sin is sin whether it is intentional or unintentional. Your sins do not affect Christ’s righteousness that God has placed upon you by grace. Without this grace gift you, me, and the whole world would be doomed to hell. Rom 4:5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justif...

QUESTION: If you willfully sin, you were either not born again in the first place or you have thrown out your faith to serve the devil, and the promise that we can know that we will be saved if we endure to the end. You can lose your salvation as we have already done by disobeying God's Commands. Like Adam, we have partaken of the Tree of Knowledge and broken God's law. Thus, now spiritually dead, and the reason we need the second spiritual awaking, ie: to be born again.  Any sin in a believer will bring about spiritual death if allowed to come to fruition where our names are blotted out of the lamb's book of life. The reason they are blotted out is because of disobedience to God's will in the first place. At the time of accepting God's offer of salvation, we are grafted into the tree again, because God is able to graft in the branches that are broken off if they repent. To be eventually saved we must remain in the true vine of Jesus Christ, and if in Christ we will...

QUESTION: I believe that repentance means a sincere change in heart, I believe that if you continue on sin after receiving the knowledge of truth there is no sacrifice left, and that’s passed present and future. You can pray every day for forgiveness and whilst you lessen it daily, if you die, you’ll go to heaven because your soul is pure because you repent daily, and you know you will so your forgiven. But I believe that, daily sins, greed, sloth, idolatry, envy, wrath, and willful deliberate sin, undeniably inserts a massive amount of guilt upon your spirit, in which cannot be released without repentance to Christ, and continuously doing it again after repentance without a change in your ways, is not sincere, and you are taking Christs forgiveness for your own earthly pleasure. That’s what I believe, and that’s what I will continue to believe, there is no justification for willful deliberate sin. it must be stopped, for the purification of your soul, and for your soul to remain s...

Question:   “ The truth is that Christians are not to reject the law of God, the ten commandments, but by the Almighty’s Spirit should know how to apply keeping His commands without a religious organization telling them what they must or not must not do! G od has said it over and over again. We are to keep His commandments. Why don’t we? Is it because some man or some church organization tells them so? Why is man’s teaching so different that what God commandment???” Answer:  It is true that no Christians is to reject the 10 commandments. In essence, these are the moral standards that all men should abide by. The world would be a WONDERFUL place if men kept just these 10 commandments. However, the truth is that humans CANNOT keep the law, even if they wanted to. Humans are corrupted by the curse of sin. The book of Romans says that “ There are none that are righteous, no not one! ” (Rom.3:10) . It does not matter if God, the pope, a church, or a government, tells men to keep ju...

The below questions are in response to this post: https://thebigpicturelink.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-issue-of-sin-is-settled-once-and.html QUESTIONS: So, you are saying that persons justified in their belief is unable to sin and so the matter of sin is settled? But what if he sins? Is he no longer justified? And if he is no longer justified then how is the matter settled? ANSWER: Justification is only the first step in the full process of salvation. What is important to understand is that this step is a spiritual work. It does not affect the flesh and certainly does not fix sin in the flesh. It is a judicial declaration upon the believer, simply because he believes in Jesus. this first step of salvation does not yet deal with the flesh and sin in the flesh. A believer who is justified stands acquitted before God in a spiritual context. God is not looking at the life of the believer to justify him, no, we are ALL sinners. The justification that is declared over a believer is because of ...