The Bible Line - September 29, 2020

Donna - I'm looking for a Gospel church where God's Free, Sovereign Grace is preached, as concerning all things in this world and pertaining to mankind. After reading your statement of Beliefs and Values I'm not quite sure where your church stands. From what I read, it seems that you believe that our faith causes our salvation. The statement reads that because of mans' corrupted, sinful condition, he is totally unable to please God. (We know the carnal mind is at enmity with God and can not [no ability] nor does not [no desire] want to please God ). It goes on to say that salvation is entirely a work of Gods' free grace and is not in whole or part a result of the work/goodness of man. Then it reads...'God imputes His righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation, and thereby justifies them'. This to me seems to infer that 'our faith' is the 'cause' or catalyst that motivates God to save us. My understanding of this matter is that since man is born Spiritually Dead in sin, (even as Lazarus was physically dead, lifeless and had been stinking for 4 days), no matter how long anyone stands over the grave of his heart and 'knocks at the door' with Gospel preaching, he will never be able to respond 'in faith' and come to Christ since he is born Spiritually Dead. There's no one on earth who can stand at a grave and call out to a dead corpse to come up out of the grave and have them come back to life again. The dead can't hear the call..he's dead, and his lifeless body is rotting..he can't physically respond even if he
'could possibly' hear the call to climb out of the grave. That's the condition mankind is in as I understand it. So then, just as Jesus infused life into Lazarus causing him to respond to His call, so too, 'our faith' is the responsive "evidence" that we have already been given Eternal Life by the Effectual Calling Power of The Holy Spirit as we hear the Words of the Gospel. My understanding is that Faith is the 'result' of the Effectual and Accomplished call of The Holy Spirit to salvation, it's not the 'cause' of salvation. So, I hope that I just misunderstood what I read and that you do believe that Faith is the result of and not the cause of Salvation. Psalm 65:4, 110:3, Ephesians 2:1-10, Isaiah 55:11. Looking forward to my family visiting soon. 

Paul B., San Francisco, CA - What is the difference between the Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost?