The Impossible Separation, Part 1
Pastor Mac offers an expositional teaching expounding on Romans 8:28-33, which will serve as an encouragement regarding the guaranteed eternal security that all believers in Christ have by being justified by God.
or watch here on Youtube
Father, oh thank You Lord for Your amazing Grace and Mercy and Love for us/me! Thank You that we do not have to earn Your Love by what we do or say. And please forgive me when I sometimes show arrogance and sanctimoniousness to others. May I always remember that it is Your power that is evident & working through me and not my own strength. Your Grace is more than sufficient for me and it keeps me in Your everlasting grasp.
Thank You that in You ‘we live and move and have our being’.
Thank You, thank You, thank You Jesus!
I’m very thankful Pastor Mac preached on this.
In my own experience, after truly realizing that salvation is all grace and we are secure after belief in Christ alone and that WORKS DO NOT PROVE SALVATION OR KEEP ONE SAVED…
I no longer felt the burden and doubt.
Lordship salvation has infiltrated so many churches including the ones I’ve attended even as a child.
In trying to share its errors, many get offended and disregard the clear teachings of scripture because unfortunately, they too have fallen into its error.
It is a different gospel and sadly many/ well known pastors I have loved for years , if I listen closely, teach works or a changed life prove one is saved.
Salvation ( justification) is wrongly confused with discipleship ( sanctification)
As I’ve pointed out before, Paul admitted he struggled with living the Christian life Romans 7:15-20
And Paul addressed the abhorrent behaviors of the church in Corinth… calling them believers despite their lifestyle , wrong choices and continuing sin.
Another misrepresented scripture passage used to cause doubt and confusion in being saved is I Corinthians 6. It is actually addressed to believers:
Inheriting the kingdom is not referring to salvation. And the listing of sins referenced is to encourage believers to NOT RETURN TO THEIR PREVIOUS SINS in a goal of making them DISCIPLES and thereby have a role in the kingdom not that those sins eliminate them from salvation or indicate they weren’t saved but affect their discipleship.
I have heard many misinterpret this as well.
You can choose salvation but you can also choose or not to be a disciple. If we are imperfect before salvation and God’s grace still saved us, why after salvation when we are still imperfect would he “ unsave” us??? It’s His grace from beginning to end!
We are either saved by grace and THE SOLE WORK OF CHRIST with nothing but belief contributed by us
OR we contribute works plus belief which is antithetical to true grace.
Grace plus NOTHING … faith ALONE in Christ ALONE by grace ALONE
THANK YOU THANK YOU JESUS 
Thank you loved what you wrote has helped me…
May i ask a question if one says they are Christian but living and married as a gay couple and wanting children too , are they saved ?
I really struggle with this , what do i say ? Plus go to church , where church say they are loved ?
Im so confused about this
Thank you 
To be honest the continuing in a homosexual lifestyle while claiming to be a Christian is a struggle for me as well.
Because I am not the Lord , I can only go by scripture. Therefore based on scripture which indicates it is belief in the euro of Christ and not our works it works seem so.
As abhorrent such a lifestyle is to God, sin is sin.
So for example, Pastor Mac said he had 5 children out of wedlock and a very foul mouth but he had placed his faith in Christ. He was saved despite him not choosing at that time to be living as a disciple of Christ just as any other person who truly placed their faith in Christ, chooses to continue in sin , no matter the sin.
My humble advice would be the following:
1 Tell them you love them and that God does too
2 tell them you have a couple questions as you are concerned about their salvation
Question - have you placed your faith in the Jesus of the Bible
Question ( assuming they say yes) ask them if they know what scripture says about living a homosexual lifestyle and that although there’s all kinds of sin , some sins have worse consequences than others , despite them all still falling into the category of sin.
This will likely not be easy and could come across as judgmental
Or
They may say all the excuses we hear today about the Bible not really addressing it or that the Bible is antiquated and even turn the tables to say “ works “ ( ie their lifestyle) doesn’t make one saved
Question 3 (would depend on their answer imo )
if they use the above excuses , explain that it’s true that works don’t save but show them the scripture and what God says.
Acknowledge that this is hard to hear and that you understand they have feelings for each other and stopping their relationship would be extremely but the Bible is clear on sane sex relationships.
if you get that far, the next question imo would be… Since God and scripture doesn’t change , What do you think based on scripture, God thinks about your same sex relationship?
(They also need to know this is a forgivable sin, just as any sin was nailed to the cross ).
If they’re also receptive, you could explain that this lifestyle is not healthy and God established the monogamous marriage between a man and a woman for not only moral reasons but for physical health as well ( they may pushback explaining it’s not healthy for a heterosexual to sleep around etc etc , which you could definitely agree with ) explaining that God laid out sexual guidelines for a reason and the most honoring and healthy is one man and one woman for life although reiterate that although many have not followed his perfect plan ( divorce , adultery, living together unmarried, prostitution etc ) that’s God’s will and desire for mankind.
If they end up refusing to listen at any point or don’t want to address what scripture says because they feel attacked or criticized,
reiterate you love them , you care about their lifestyle choice and that you’ll simply pray for them.
It is a sticky situation and I have actually had members of my husband’s family ( his side has 3 practicing homosexuals) disown me for trying to explain the above. Many will not see it as loving but we know the truth hurts.
I’m attaching a video and articles on this exact situation by Grace Evangelical Society that addresses your question, you may or may not find it helpful but, YOU ARE DEFINITELY NOT ALONE IN WANTING CLARITY!
The bottom line is we can not know if they are saved based on what we physically see, if they truly believed , they are sealed but their lifestyle is not walking in discipleship just as any other believer that continues in a sin is not living a life of discipleship, no matter what sin they continue.
All sin is missing the mark next matter how we in our human thinking want to label one worse than another . We all have this flesh still that we drag around and war with in individual struggles with specific sins or at least just the sin nature we still possess. God can certainly change each person but removing a specific sin struggle is not guaranteed nor is it an indicator that person is not saved.
We can only present the gospel and if they state understanding and claim they do believe, then we have to let God take it from there and pray his Holy Spirit works in them.
Please understand this is my personal suggestion and some may not agree with it , but since you asked me ( which I’m humbled to throw my 2 cents to you 
) this is how I’d address it.
https://faithalone.org/grace-in-focus-articles/homosexuals-and-salvation/
Thank you so so much thats very helpful, i appreciate the time youve taken to write these and will watch the videos, again thank you …
I was trying to find video of young lad testimony that Jd Farag had on one sunday about his journey out of gay lifestyle to listen again i remember his parents heartbreaking as wouldn’t support him in that lifestyle and mum said something like Jesus is first , alas cant find it
Found it , this might help too
Something too i found interesting on the LGBTQ thing is this video with Alan and Melissa. What stood out to me in general (this is a general look into what people are going through today) is some unique perspectives the church can have concerning this issue. Blessings.
Im trying to understand all this , watched videos ,now going to list Bible verses on subject
What does the Bible say about Homosexuality? Scriptures on Same-Sex Relations
The Word of God is evident in its view of homosexuality. The most commonly quoted Bible verses are Leviticus 18:22 and Leviticus 20:13, which state that it is an abomination for a man to lie with another man as he would with a woman. In Romans 1:26-27, Apostle Paul says that homosexuality is contrary to God’s natural order and results from rejecting God. Additionally, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 lists homosexuality as one of the sins that will prevent someone from entering the Kingdom of God. While the Bible is clear in its view of homosexuality, it is essential to remember that God loves all of his creation and offers forgiveness to those who repent and turn away from their sins.
Leviticus 18:22 ~ You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.
Leviticus 20:13 ~ If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
Jude 1:7 ~ Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
Romans 1:26-28 ~ For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
Mark 10:6-9 ~ But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
I humbly ask you to research the meaning
of “ shall not inherit the Kingdom of God “ because I have heard that it is not always referencing salvation ( entering heaven) but can refer to a believer’s role in the Millennial Kingdom. I Corinthians 6 passage is to believers reminding them that they are righteous in Christ….
So Paul is reminding them that they are not what some of them were ( the list of sins ) because Christ’s righteousness was imputed to them upon belief in Him, but the unrighteous will neither enter nor inherit it because they are still in unbelief and are therefore still under the condemnation of their sins whether past or present.
I have studied this for awhile and am still researching it but I will attach some teachings that helped me…. You may not agree however but this is my view based on salvation without works and subsequent rewards for discipleship.
One thing to keep in mind is to look at the context of who is being referred to as well as that not all passages using the term “ saved” is always referring to salvation of the soul for eternal life. It can refer to other things in scripture as well.
I absolutely understand the dilemma of grasping how a practicing homosexual could be saved but I refer again to sin is sin is sin.
While there are consequences to continuing in any sin, some sins will have differing degrees of consequences.
The more I thought about this , I realized someone who truly understands and accepts the gospel of grace can continue in any sin but that is not God’s will and the person will likely have chastisement from the Lord and/ or may need to have the Holy Spirit work on convicting them as only he can do that.
If a person is a believer but cheats in their spouse, they are still saved, a person who has trusted in Christ but continues to give in to their desire to drink and gets drunk and God forbid, let’s say they drink and drive and kill someone, they are still saved. There are so many examples that could be listed…. A person who struggles with anger , impatience, smoking, lying , cussing etc, is still saved but is not practicing the best discipleship.
Tbh, the thing I struggle with specifically regarding the lgbtq issue is on the trans agenda. There are so called drag queens that say they believe in Christ but are doing absolutely disgusting things in the church and twisting scripture. The one thing that I keep remembering is that they may not in reality be believing in the right Jesus or are wolves in sheep’s clothing because they truly are not saved and are purposely trying to get to the Chileans warped them.
How some can do what they do and profess Christ begs the question… “ Where is the conviction with such sin as homosexuality and trans lifestyles because a true beliefs indwelt with the Holy Spirit”,
The best scriptural answer I can find is that if they did put their faith in Christ, they are choosing to live in their flesh.
I’m thinking back to Pastor Mac’s teaching, he referenced the Corinth church and how some men were committing incest related sex acts, yet Paul addressed them as believers.
Again, we can not know if someone is saved but we can only go by their stated understanding of the gospel and confessing that they have trusted Christ and not in any of their own works. As Pastor Mac said, we can not say a person is or isn’t saved based on their actions if they say they’ve trusted in the finished work of Christ.
Idk , this is a topic that has no clear answer other than salvation is by faith alone regardless of what sins the person committed, or continues to commit and we can pray for those stuck in this lifestyle but we better then also pray for anyone, including ourselves who are not because, no believer has stopped sinning 100%.
Here are the links in the Inheriting the Kingdom of God in context to the accompanying list of sins :
I was trying to find a great teaching on the
term “ saved “ and when it’s referring to the soul or other things but I can not locate it.
Well this has definitely been an in depth, mind tiring conversation so I’ll leave it here.
Again , this is probably as clear as mud but I tried my best to explain what I personally gleaned from both scripture and study of all these things and have come to believe so far.
Thankyou again for your reply and time , like you im looking into this , studying from Bible i appreciate your resources , i have to ask our Lord Jesus in prayer to guide and teach me as my heart breaks in this topic , especially for the children caught up in this both in education society and home life …
Thank you again for your time
Long to go home as God is not the author of confusion or chaos
There is no clear cut answer.
Not everyone who claims to be a believer is truly saved. One may claim to be a Christian when they have not truly been born again by faith in Jesus Christ. This person will continue sinning without repentance because they do not have the Holy Spirit convicting them nor the new nature that desires to please God.
Idk how to tell the difference between a disobedient Christian and an unbeliever who continues in sin. Since salvation is not based on works, their behavior is all we can see and not their heart as only God can.
Either way, without true repentance, they should be removed from Church
I do believe it is very clear in Gods Word that if a person continues in sinful behavior knowing it is sin and will not turn from it, the love of the Truth is not in him. I have a niece who married, had 2 children, divorced then married same sex. When I asked if she loved the Lord as her Savior she said yes, but will never give up her “wife”. I would say Gods Word says the love of the Truth is not in her. Light and darkness cannot dwell on the same house. Amen?
1 John 1:6-10
1 John 2:4-10
I agree 100%.
My Dear Sister @Cara, I totally understand how confused you must be about the situation and LGBTQ people we are having to face these days. I don’t like seeing it either, but I believe that it’s not up to us to judge, only love each other and do our best as Christian brothers and sisters to show that love in the best we we can.
As has been mentioned, sin is sin and we are all guilty in some way of having our own sin to deal with, so that should be what we focus on, not on others faults and sins. Just like the scripture that mentions the mote in someones eye…
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
As I mentioned before, I don’t like seeing sin in others either, but God has pointed me in the direction of this scripture many times in the past and still does pretty regularly. All we can do is pray for others, since we are all guilty of something, and ask Jesus for discernment, faith and mercy to handle things as He would, with Love, since Love can overcome many sins.
God Bless and Be With You Cara,
Joe
Beautiful Joe…
These verses often come to my mind to.
I am saved because I believe in Christ grace for all my sins past, present and future as scripture explains in many scriptures. Hebrews 10:12 comes to mind as well as when he cried out “ it is finished “.
If he died for only some sins, he’d after be re- crucified. Also, as anyone who attests that they have believed on Christ for salvation ( and only they know, this we can’t judge that) none have stopped sinning 100% as believers still have to war with our flesh against our new spiritual birth.
So , none can say who is or isn’t saved because basing such an assumption on the works of another is deceptive.
For example, in the Mormon state I live in , if I watched their behaviors but didn’t know they were Mormon , only their claim they also believe Christ is their Savior, I’d wrongly conclude they were saved… Mormons help their neighbors, contribute to humanitarian causes, religiously tithe and attend “ church” and so on. Yet, if their Mormonism was revealed , it works be apparent that they believe in the wrong Jesus and all their good deeds proved absolutely nothing. Works prove nothing except what we think about a person which is a slippery slope if it’s what is weighed as proof of salvation.
Conversely, I could watch a person who claimed they’ve put their faith in Christ yet, say I see them in public buying a case of beer, hear them cuss or lie….and I out of PRIDE , accuse them of not being saved BUT, I go home and in the following week, I lose patience in traffic and cuss at a fellow driver impulsively, have a glass of wine with my dinner, leave out part of the truth when my husband asks how much I spent shopping?
Then based on my works or lack there of / continued sin , am I not saved ??
Ephesians 2:8-9 is clear that we are saved by grace alone and not of works ( that means any works ). Nor are we kept saved by doing good.
We can not be more saved than we already are or more justified. We can only strive to emulate Christ but it is only his promise that if we believe in him and his faithfulness in sealing that we remain his for eternity.
Our works before salvation are as filthy rags as they are after salvation. They are filthy rags because they can never measure up to what it takes to save our soul or keep it saved.
Our works after salvation are only for the purpose of bringing glory, not us , as we strive to walk the Christian life with all the struggles we still face in this life… we know though, have an advocate, burden bearer, comforter as he picks us up EVERY TIME WE STUMBLE!
Sorry… droning on …
To end:
Like others, I don’t have an answer why specifically a person who says they are saved , continues in a homosexual lifestyle , but that applies to any including myself that still struggle with certain sins.
While the Lord would have us turn from all sins , no matter how insignificant or abhorrent, it’s not possible in our flesh. It is a work of the Holy Spirit to convict his children of the sins that entangle them and help guide them to live in the Spirit and not their flesh and we are still justified , saved and sealed until we are perfected at his coming with our glorified bodies
Thus, I can only acknowledge that a person who has heard the gospel and says they believed in Christ , that they did. Their salvation status is in God’s hands …BUT , I can pray that the HS works in their heart as in my own to change any fleshy desires and that if they aren’t truly saved that he guide them to that reality.
Throwing this out there for anyone interested:
I’m currently studying Acts , Galatians and James.
The church of Galatia was being reprimanded by Paul for believing another gospel.
They were trying to add works specifically circumcision.
Regarding James, there are many views on “ faith without works is dead “…
Where do works for in?
Does the Bible contradict itself in saying it’s by faith alone we’re saved ??
Of course the Bible does not contradict itself and we are saved by faith alone
In a recent eye opening James study , I learned James was written before Acts. James was still stuck in not grasping that a person could only have faith with no works to back up their faith.
But in studying the context and timing of James , it explains why James is such a confusing book specifically chapter 2.
Another thing pointed out was that the “faith without works is dead” is being explained by some grace only proponents to mean that it is talking about “ justified before men “ meaning we can bear testimony to others that were believers by our good deeds. Yet, James made this assumption falsely believing some are saved but they actually were not. Which is this continued error that we “ look at the fruit “….
James of course was a believer and his book has caused much confusion on the place works have. The problem is they did have a place , just not tied to getting saved, staying saved or proving salvation.
Disclaimer:
I understand this is not likely going to go over well since many for years have ( like me) heard limited explanation of works/ fruits and inspecting those to determine our or another’s stance before God ie saved or not.
So I’m attaching a few videos that based on filtering through scripture show that scripture absolutely does not have contradictory verses but instead, if examined contextually and filtered through the rest of scripture, shows it all is cohesive in concluding that from throughout all the Old Testament and Mew Testament, the message is one : Jesus as God, died for the sins of all, rose again , and offers salvation by faith alone in him alone by his grace alone. He came to offer a free gift that costs is nothing but belief in his finished work.
Continued disclaimer: in no way am or or these teachings advocating to just live it up sinning , not that asking forgiveness and striving to turn from sins does not have its place in the believer’s life. They most certainly do but it is through Christ and his strengths that we do them and not our own.
The freedom we have in Christ is such a tremendous burden free life he imparts to us as we walk with him through all the valleys , mountains, crooked and yes, easier straight paths.
My objective in posting this since it is not what is the norm on James is to offer consideration for another explanation of faith without works is dead.
The bottom line truth is that salvation by only faith in Christ.
These are only a few but his channel has more on Galatians and James which I’m still working through.
Also Grace Institute of Biblical Studies has much on Faith Alone but here are two recent teachings on Galatians
They have a James teaching that is not 100% as the above channels view but both channels do pony out that our works come from our identity in Christ and not for salvation or its proof. The works we do for our Savior that are not wood, hay and stubble( done out of selfish pride ) but are done for him through His Spirit and of pure intentions of the heart are the ones that survive when tried by fire ( gold ).
Again this is mere food for thought and is a very touchy subject for some , but I like most here are just wanting to study God’s Word, being Bereans, to get clarity on some things that are confusing or need more clarification. It’s a journey seeking answers that may or may not be given immediately or ever this side of heaven but…… we know it’s about Faith … the whole of Christian life, is faith in the One that’s it.
I felt the need to add this video because he is explaining that Janes is teaching faith and works but it’s still inspired scripture but it has implications to faith alone for salvation in comparing what Paul taught and how James did not get the faith alone yet.
Again, I just find this interesting and extremely thought provoking as it does seem to clear up what SEEMS contradictory.
James is still stuck under a works mentality and Paul is spreading the message that it is by faith alone.
Anyway, just sharing in case there more interest in really looking into this concept that rare in trying to justify what James says with what Paul taught.
