God alone provides Salvation - Ezekiel 36

[Pat_De]

"they came to the nations where they went, they profaned My holy name, because it was said of them, `These are the people of the LORD; yet they have come out of His land.’ 21 **"But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went. **

Concern for His holy name is why?

22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, `Thus says the Lord GOD, "It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. 23 "I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD,” declares the Lord GOD, "when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. 24 "For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. 25 "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean;** I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.** 26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. 28 "You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God. 29 "Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you. 30 "I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations. 31 "Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations. 32 “I am not doing this for your sake,” declares the Lord GOD, "let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel!”

33 Thus says the Lord GOD, "On the day that **I cleanse you from all your iniquities,** I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places will be rebuilt. 34 "The desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by. 35 "They will say, This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’ 36 "Then the nations that are left round about you will know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate; I, the LORD, have spoken and will do it."

37 `Thus says the Lord GOD, "This also I will let the house of Israel ask Me to do for them: I will increase their men like a flock. 38 "Like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so will the waste cities be filled with flocks of men. Then they will know that I am the LORD."

God does not change and He saves men the same today as He did yesterday and He did it for His namesake, the Christian is secondary. There is nothing special about you! You are only sinful by nature & is but filthy rags before a holy God. Not one is righteous in His sight. So if He has granted you faith, granted a repentant heart, granted Jesus righteousness, and removed the veil of blindness that the god of this world has blinded all, then rejoice in the Lord your God and give Him first place in all aspects of your life; anything less is sin.

“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

But Peter said to him, "Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money!

If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?"

But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.

Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;

if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,

But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,

brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.
Who has done it from start to finish w/out ANYTHING contributed by religion or self?

 

[NotWorthy]

Is there supposed to be discussion on this thread?

 

[Pat_De]

Is there supposed to be discussion on this thread?

Most will believe otherwise as to the merits of salvation being the sole work of God w/out any partiality to men. Some will claim men have the free-will to accept or to be saved and then give that salvation up; this post dismisses any such notions. Most people calling themselves “Christians” are headed straight to hell because they have never been regenerated, they believe they are saved on some basis of human rites or rituals or because they stood up on an alter call and prayed a prayer; yet their is no regeneration as shown by their lives and their lack of seeing and honoring Jesus above all things and in all things in their lives. They look like the world and stink like the world, but believe they will be in heaven until the the Lord says “depart from me, I never knew you” this is the greatest tragedy and it is because people have bought into the lies of the devil and most preachers should not even be in a pulpit in America.

 

[Crown_of_Thorns]

You seem to be suggesting that the Catholic Church teaches salvation through works, but this is entirely false - it has been condemned by the Church many times.

Salvation is a free gift from God. All that is good, comes from God. But that doesn’t mean that works are irrelevant;

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’” (Matt. 25)

“In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (James 2.17)

Although works are a necessary part of salvation, all of are works are a gift of grace, from God. He gives us the grace, the opportunities, and he blesses are work. All we bring to the bargain are our sins and weaknesses.

Also, the idea that the Bible has negative attitude to religion is untrue. Bad religion is condemned, but good religion is encouraged.

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1.25)

May the Lord your God bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand tp!! (Cf. Exodus 35.35)

 

[Crown_of_Thorns]

Most will believe otherwise as to the merits of salvation being the sole work of God w/out any partiality to men. Some will claim men have the free-will to accept or to be saved and then give that salvation up;

Take the example of a baptist minister, with a growing ministry, lovely family, lovely man. He believes he is saved and can never lose his salvation. Everyone else agrees he is a saved man, and can never lose his salvation.

Then one day he runs off with his secretary, abandons his family and lives in sin with the other woman, without repenting.

Now according to Hebrews 10.26 “if we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire.”

If the once saved, always saved doctrine is true, then this man obviously wasn’t one of the elect and had never truly been saved. However, at the time, he thought he was, and everyone who knew him thought he was - but he wasn’t. It is therefore impossible, unless one knows everything that one might possibly do in the future to say with ABSOLUTE certainty ‘I am saved and can NEVER lose my salvation’.

 

[Crown_of_Thorns]

Most people calling themselves “Christians” are headed straight to hell because they have never been regenerated, they believe they are saved on some basis of human rites or rituals or because they stood up on an alter call and prayed a prayer; yet their is no regeneration as shown by their lives and their lack of seeing and honoring Jesus above all things and in all things in their lives. They look like the world and stink like the world, but believe they will be in heaven until the the Lord says “depart from me, I never knew you” this is the greatest tragedy and it is because people have bought into the lies of the devil and most preachers should not even be in a pulpit in America.

Growth in holiness is a process and it takes time. God doesn’t generally make people into saints in a day - although there are exceptions.

It is very easy when we are on the ladder of holiness, to look down at the people on the bottom and draw a cut off line somewhere between yourself and them. However, remember that there are people above you on the ladder, who may be drawing exactly the same line, somewhere above your head. Hence Jesus said “As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it”. (John 12.47)

I would counsel you always to preach the gospel to those around you, by word and deed and always in love; and importantly, hope for the salvation of all men, but leave their individual and corporate judgement to God.

*“I care very little if I am judged by you or any human court; indeed I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.” *(1 Cor. 4.3)

 

[NotWorthy]

Most will believe otherwise as to the merits of salvation being the sole work of God w/out any partiality to men. Some will claim men have the free-will to accept or to be saved and then give that salvation up; this post dismisses any such notions. Most people calling themselves “Christians” are headed straight to hell because they have never been regenerated, they believe they are saved on some basis of human rites or rituals or because they stood up on an alter call and prayed a prayer; yet their is no regeneration as shown by their lives and their lack of seeing and honoring Jesus above all things and in all things in their lives. They look like the world and stink like the world, but believe they will be in heaven until the the Lord says “depart from me, I never knew you” this is the greatest tragedy and it is because people have bought into the lies of the devil and most preachers should not even be in a pulpit in America.

We don’t have free-will? Its up to God, but not us? Well, then, I guess there’s no need for discussion. Either God chooses me or He doesn’t.

I’ll await my Lord and Puppet-Master to choose me, then, since I have no say in the matter.

Thanks for clearing things up.

 

[Pat_De]

You seem to be suggesting that the Catholic Church teaches salvation through works, but this is entirely false - it has been condemned by the Church many times.

Salvation is a free gift from God. All that is good, comes from God. But that doesn’t mean that works are irrelevant;

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’” (Matt. 25)

“In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” (James 2.17)

Although works are a necessary part of salvation, all of are works are a gift of grace, from God. He gives us the grace, the opportunities, and he blesses are work. All we bring to the bargain are our sins and weaknesses.

Also, the idea that the Bible has negative attitude to religion is untrue. Bad religion is condemned, but good religion is encouraged.

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1.25)

May the Lord your God bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand tp!! (Cf. Exodus 35.35)

Which is it salvation by works or Salvation by God alone; you see above that you contradict yourself because you confuse justification and sanctification by blending them together. That is not the Gospel.

Even Exodus 35:35 is the sole work of God using men as a tool for His purpose. Quite consistent with His nature.

 

[Pat_De]

Take the example of a baptist minister, with a growing ministry, lovely family, lovely man. He believes he is saved and can never lose his salvation. Everyone else agrees he is a saved man, and can never lose his salvation.

Then one day he runs off with his secretary, abandons his family and lives in sin with the other woman, without repenting.

Now according to Hebrews 10.26 “if we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire.”

If the once saved, always saved doctrine is true, then this man obviously wasn’t one of the elect and had never truly been saved. However, at the time, he thought he was, and everyone who knew him thought he was - but he wasn’t. It is therefore impossible, unless one knows everything that one might possibly do in the future to say with ABSOLUTE certainty ‘I am saved and can NEVER lose my salvation’.

You confuse head knowledge with the indwelling of God that regenerates a Christian; obviously in your example their is no regenerative work done, which means God is not in there.

If not for election no one would be in heaven and I can prove that from Scripture.

 

[Pat_De]

Growth in holiness is a process and it takes time. God doesn’t generally make people into saints in a day - although there are exceptions.

It is very easy when we are on the ladder of holiness, to look down at the people on the bottom and draw a cut off line somewhere between yourself and them. However, remember that there are people above you on the ladder, who may be drawing exactly the same line, somewhere above your head. Hence Jesus said “As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it”. (John 12.47)

I would counsel you always to preach the gospel to those around you, by word and deed and always in love; and importantly, hope for the salvation of all men, but leave their individual and corporate judgement to God.

*“I care very little if I am judged by you or any human court; indeed I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.” *(1 Cor. 4.3)

All men, being dead in their sins, born haters of God, and a dead person can’t react to anything; therefore God must grant faith, grant repentance and thus grant the understanding of the Gospel and thus Salvation. Do a word study on the word “grant” in the NT and you will see what I am saying. We are told to discern and you are right; in the end God will justify or condemn, but at any given moment we can discern a person spiritual condition and should if you care about their soul. The person who loves you the most will tell you the most truth…right?

 

[Pat_De]

We don’t have free-will? Its up to God, but not us? Well, then, I guess there’s no need for discussion. Either God chooses me or He doesn’t.

I’ll await my Lord and Puppet-Master to choose me, then, since I have no say in the matter.

Thanks for clearing things up.

You are welcome for without election no one would be in heaven because everyone would choose sin over God. All have sinned and fall short, no not one is righteous, men love the darkness. You are dead in your transgressions. Can a dead person react to anything? Who grants faith, who grants repentance, who removes the veil of blindness? You or God? Let to yourself you would never chose God because you love sin and that which loves sin hates God. Man’s worst problem is that He is the God of love because to love perfectly one must hate perfectly. Example if you love babies, then you must hate abortion and the people who commit this murder.

God hates sin and sinners, Jacob I loved and Esau I hated. See proverbs 6 as well. So you can wait all day long if you want and unless you understand just how totally depraved you are before His Holiness you will never come to any kind of repentance and that goes for everyone. god says even the best of human kindness apart from is but filthy rags and God said no one seeks after Him. So is God a liar?

 

[Cruxis117]

All men, being dead in their sins, born haters of God, and a dead person can’t react to anything; therefore God must grant faith, grant repentance and thus grant the understanding of the Gospel and thus Salvation. Do a word study on the word “grant” in the NT and you will see what I am saying. We are told to discern and you are right; in the end God will justify or condemn, but at any given moment we can discern a person spiritual condition and should if you care about their soul. The person who loves you the most will tell you the most truth…right?

You obviously forget baptism, which gives a person new life. You confuse truth for Calvinistic Predestination Heresy. Which can easily be disproven with the simple question of: "Where did God tell Adam and Eve that all of his descendants would be “unable to react to anything” ? Surely, such an important “truth” would have been stated by God to Adam and Eve. And surely, you say that All men are dead in their sins and born haters of God. And that they are unable to react to anything, then please, tell me why Job was seen as a Holy, Righteous Man? Please explain to me why, if any of what you say is true, we see so many examples of Men and Women in the OT responding to God. Nothing says God inspired them to. Isiah, who said “Here I am Lord!” certainly responded to God, yet you claim that he was “dead in sin and unable to respond”. Did God instantly sanctify him? And likewise, there were those who were called to be Prophets, but shirked away from responsibility. Did God ask vainly? Was God “powerless”? Predestination as you would have it is a false teaching which should be righteously condemned.

You make the True, Living God seem weak, bound by your traditions of Men. Whereas the ultimate truth is that yes, God is the source of all things, and we ARE able to co-operate. We have the ability to choose, and be responsible for those choices. With Election, God becomes a merciless tryant, A Source of Evil and Pain and Suffering. But with Truth, God becomes what God is, Love, Holiness, Justice. And we are given the ability to choose or deny God. God does not make us choose or deny. Through God we are saved, through our Lord Jesus Christ, but we are the ones with the ability to choose.

 

[NotWorthy]

All have sinned and fall short, no not one is righteous, men love the darkness…

God hates sin and sinners, Jacob I loved and Esau I hated.

You present a conundrum.

A) All men are sinners.
B) God hates all sinners
C) Jacob is loved by God.

How does this compute?

 

[Cruxis117]

You present a conundrum.

A) All men are sinners.
B) God hates all sinners
C) Jacob is loved by God.

How does this compute?

 

[Crown_of_Thorns]

You confuse head knowledge with the indwelling of God that regenerates a Christian; obviously in your example their is no regenerative work done, which means God is not in there.

If not for election no one would be in heaven and I can prove that from Scripture.

What you seem to be saying is that a) “the indwelling of God… regenerates a Christian”, and that b) our "head knowledge (I assume you are meaning what we can know with our intellect) is not a proof or disproof of the indwelling of God.

The natural conclusion of this, we are saved by the indwelling of God, but that we cannot know whether God is dwelling in us, therefore, we really do just have to live our lives, and then wait and see at death…

This really is a recipe for deism.

 

[Crown_of_Thorns]

Which is it salvation by works or Salvation by God alone; you see above that you contradict yourself because you confuse justification and sanctification by blending them together. That is not the Gospel.

Even Exodus 35:35 is the sole work of God using men as a tool for His purpose. Quite consistent with His nature.

Salvation comes from God alone who in his grace, gives us faith, which moves us to good works. Salvation is always and everywhere a gratuitous gift from God - but this is how he chooses to saves us.

By trying to exclude works altogether, you have to ignore key passages of Scripture, such as Matt. 25 and James 2.17. The Catholic Church sees scripture as a whole and gives weight to every part; the parts that speak of salvation through grace (that is gift of God), through faith and through works. We need to harmonise these, not try and play them off against each other.

 

[Crown_of_Thorns]

All men, being dead in their sins, born haters of God, and a dead person can’t react to anything; therefore God must grant faith, grant repentance and thus grant the understanding of the Gospel and thus Salvation. Do a word study on the word “grant” in the NT and you will see what I am saying. We are told to discern and you are right; in the end God will justify or condemn, but at any given moment we can discern a person spiritual condition and should if you care about their soul. The person who loves you the most will tell you the most truth…right?

You’re right, that in a specific concrete case of someone, whom you know, and in whom there is a specific issue in his/her life, then it is a positive thing (in love) to raise it to that persons attention.

However I would offer you to fruits of my experience.

1. Telling people to that “All men, being dead in their sins, born haters of God, and a dead person can’t react to anything” will not bring them to repentance, but to despair. That is hardly good evangelisation.
2. If you fall into the trap of thinking that ‘loads of other unspecific Christians aren’t going to heaven, but I am’, there is a huge danger of spiritual pride, plus it can make your proclaimation of Christian sound negative. Instead, it is better to hope for the salvation of all those we meet and whatever stage of the spiritual life they are at encourage them to seek the “holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12.14)

May God Bless you.

 

[Pat_De]

You obviously forget baptism, which gives a person new life. You confuse truth for Calvinistic Predestination Heresy. Which can easily be disproven with the simple question of: "Where did God tell Adam and Eve that all of his descendants would be “unable to react to anything” ? Surely, such an important “truth” would have been stated by God to Adam and Eve. And surely, you say that All men are dead in their sins and born haters of God. And that they are unable to react to anything, then please, tell me why Job was seen as a Holy, Righteous Man? Please explain to me why, if any of what you say is true, we see so many examples of Men and Women in the OT responding to God. Nothing says God inspired them to. Isiah, who said “Here I am Lord!” certainly responded to God, yet you claim that he was “dead in sin and unable to respond”. Did God instantly sanctify him? And likewise, there were those who were called to be Prophets, but shirked away from responsibility. Did God ask vainly? Was God “powerless”? Predestination as you would have it is a false teaching which should be righteously condemned.

You make the True, Living God seem weak, bound by your traditions of Men. Whereas the ultimate truth is that yes, God is the source of all things, and we ARE able to co-operate. We have the ability to choose, and be responsible for those choices. With Election, God becomes a merciless tryant, A Source of Evil and Pain and Suffering. But with Truth, God becomes what God is, Love, Holiness, Justice. And we are given the ability to choose or deny God. God does not make us choose or deny. Through God we are saved, through our Lord Jesus Christ, but we are the ones with the ability to choose.

I forget baptism? You that work you are taught that removes original sin and cannot be found anywhere in the Christian bible? You are dead in your sins and trespasses and dead men can’t do anything can they except be dead.

You have it backwards for God is mighty and strong; who would give their Son to die? If you have any kids at all would you give them up to death for anyone? I couldn’t do that, but God did. You have an image of God of your own making and idea that is not found in Scripture. We are responsible for a choice and there in lies the problem, we were born of sin and as such we are born to hate God and God has spoken that not one person seeks after him, that is the choice of the man left to himself. If not for election, no one would be in heaven because men love the darkness and we are born into darkness and our very nature is darkness. Can a leopard change it’s spots? No! They neither can you who are accustomed to sin unless God grants you repentance and faith and salvation. Baptism by water is a man made teaching and has nothing to do with Christianity in relation to salvation as taught in the Christian Bible; it is a command and act of obedience once a person has been awakened or quickened by God Himself… You have no idea the depravity of sin and sinners and the hatred toward God in which that sin manifests itself and until one grasps that, then in no way will they ever beg God for mercy.

 

[Pat_De]

You present a conundrum.

A) All men are sinners.
B) God hates all sinners
C) Jacob is loved by God.

How does this compute?

Tell it to God, He wrote it! Disagree with Him and tell Him He is wrong, not me.

Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and ***that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

---

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

***for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; 10 as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; 11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; 12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.” 13 “THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,” “THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS”; 14 “WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS”; 15 “THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, 16 DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, 17 AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.” 18 “THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”

---

Can you get the picture according to GOD that you would never ever chose GOD; never!
**
Now lets turn to God**
For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus {and} with {it} eternal glory.

So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience

"You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and {that} your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.

But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ***who are chosen ***

"Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; ***but for the sake of the elect ***those days will be cut short.

"And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

Who will bring a charge against God’s elect?

Get the picture that you can’t chose god because of your total depravity and being dead in trespasses and sin and a God hater and that unless their was the “elect”, there would be no one in heaven.

28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to ***those who are called according to {His} purpose. *** ( This is an “effectual calling”, not a general calling)

29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined {to become} conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of His name, That He might make His power known.

"For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can {My name} be profaned? And ***My glory I will not give to another. ***

The one above is the reason why man wants to take credit for something he has no ability at all, which is wicked in its intention because it wants to give the glory do soley to God in Salvation and share it with the creature…won’t happen!

 

[Pat_De]

What you seem to be saying is that a) “the indwelling of God… regenerates a Christian”, and that b) our "head knowledge (I assume you are meaning what we can know with our intellect) is not a proof or disproof of the indwelling of God.

The natural conclusion of this, we are saved by the indwelling of God, but that we cannot know whether God is dwelling in us, therefore, we really do just have to live our lives, and then wait and see at death…

This really is a recipe for deism.

If one does not know that God is residing in them, then they are still dead because God is not in them. God grants repentance, God grants faith, God grants salvation not because of man, but despite of man.