Ownership - Who owns you?

[B-A-C]

No one belongs to Jesus when they are born. I don't want to get into the "all infants go to heaven until they reach the age of accountability" discussion here. Maybe that's true, but that isn't what this is about.
For the purpose of this discussion, let's say you 'HAVE' reached the age of accountability.

Unless you know Jesus, Satan owns you. Even if you've heard of Jesus, you can still belong to the devil.

John 8:44; "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

You are slave to someone whether you know it or not.

Rom 6:16; Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

Now this quickly gets into the realm of "once saved, always saved". Sometimes it seems it's unavoidable. But consider the main difference between Arminianism and Calvinism for a moment.

Both believe that once you are saved, Jesus owns you. You have been redeemed, purchased by the blood of the Lamb.

1Pet 1:18; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,
1Pet 1:19; but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

Acts 20:28; "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

Everyone agrees that once you become a saved believer, Jesus "owns" you. So far, no problem. So then, what is the problem?

The difference is, what Jesus does with you now that He owns you. For most Calvinists, it's simply game over. Jesus owns me, that's the end of the story. I'm saved, that's all there is.

For Arminian's ( most Pentecostals ) that's not the end of the story, it's the beginning. Yes, Jesus owns you now, you have been redeemed and purchased by the blood.
No one can take you away from Jesus now. That's a good thing, right?

Non Calvinists believe that just because Jesus owns you, it doesn't mean you're guaranteed to go to heaven. Oh, they believe you need Jesus to get into the kingdom of heaven.
For one thing the Bible says some will be cast out of the kingdom.

Matt 8:12; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Matt 13:41; "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness,

So, because you're in the kingdom today, doesn't mean you will be tomorrow.

Matt 25:10; "And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut.
Matt 25:11; "Later the other virgins also came, saying, 'Lord, lord, open up for us.'
Matt 25:12; "But he answered, 'Truly I say to you, I do not know you.'

Now unlike those in Matthew 7, Jesus doesn't say I "never" knew you, He simply says I don't know you now. Maybe you knew Jesus yesterday, but that doesn't mean you will tomorrow.
All of us have friends and people we "used" to know, but we've fell out of fellowship with them over the years.

In the parable of the talents, the Master had 3 "slaves" in the His house. All three of them were in the Master's household. Jesus owned all three of them. Two of them were good servants.

Matt 25:21; "His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'
Matt 25:22; "Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, 'Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.'
Matt 25:23; "His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'

We see here that two them were told "well done", that they were good and faithful. But the third slave wasn't told this, in fact...

Matt 25:26; "But his master answered and said to him, 'You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed.
Matt 25:30; "Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Again, we see that just because Jesus owns you, doesn't mean He can't throw you out. No one can pluck you out of His hand, but He Himself will throw some out.

Luke 13:6; And He began telling this parable: "A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any.
Luke 13:7; "And he said to the vineyard-keeper, 'Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?'
Luke 13:8; "And he answered and said to him, 'Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer;
Luke 13:9; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.'"

The master had many trees in His garden. He owned all of them. Most of them bore fruit, but there was at least one that didn't. This wasn't just any tree lost out in the wildwood somewhere.
This was a tree in the Master's garden, owned by and cared for by the Master. He watered it, fertilized it, and still it refused to bear fruit. So again we see, that just because Jesus owns you,
isn't guarantee that you will be saved.

So then do you go back to being owned by devil, no I don't see any evidence in the Bible of this anywhere. Jesus still owns you, but because He owns you, He determines where you end up.

2Cor 5:10; For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

If Satan owns you, you're guaranteed to go to hell/Lake of Fire. If Jesus owns you, there's a good chance you won't, but it's not guaranteed.

1Cor 6:20; For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
1Cor 7:23; You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.

 

[B-A-C]

In Revelation chapters 2 and 3. Seven churches are mentioned. Jesus owns all of them. They are all "His" church. But just because Jesus owns them, doesn't mean they are "good to go".

Rev 2:2; 'I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false;
Rev 2:3; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary.
Rev 2:4; 'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
Rev 2:5; 'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.

This is the church, not some unsaved group that doesn't know Jesus. Jesus says go back to doing the things you did at first. Repent or else.
He tells another church.

Rev 2:13; 'I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is; and you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
Rev 2:14; 'But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality.
Rev 2:15; 'So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
Rev 2:16; 'Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.

Jesus is going to make war against His own church? That's what it says here. So just because you belong to Jesus today....

Rev 3:2; 'Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.
Rev 3:3; 'So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.
Rev 3:4; 'But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.
Rev 3:5; 'He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

Another church that belongs to Jesus, but their works aren't complete yet. Jesus's works are finished, in fact they were finished before the foundation of the Earth.
But this church's work wasn't finished. Jesus says it's not complete yet. There is some good news for this church, some of them "have not soiled the garments" and they will walk with Jesus.
But some of them, He will erase their names from the book of Life.

If your name isn't in the Book of Life...

Rev 20:15; And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

 

[lentz]

"It may be the devil,it may be the Lord, you’re gonna serve somebody"

 

[lentz]

"It may be the devil,it may be the Lord, you’re gonna serve somebody"

Thanks Bear for the edit

 

[Dave M]

the thing is I truly believe that when people are serving the devil or a slave to the devil they are blind they do not realize it for the most part,,,, before I was born again I never thought I was going to hell (maybe once or twice) but I truly thought I was a good person. Not until I was converted did I realize how far I was from God, I was very deceived, I fear and am very sad for people like this, because you can not really reason with them,, they have been blinded ,,they do not have Godly spiritual eyes. Once you get spiritual eyes you see the whole world in a different light, and you can see things that you never did before, a example of this I recall a time when I saw nothing wrong with the way Joel Olsteen was preaching, even though I knew many people who warned and called out his teaching as false ,,I did not understand,, now I can not even listen to him,, as my stomach gets sick.

This is something I have to remember when speaking with some people on TJ, the Bible tells us not to me argumentative
Romans 14:1 Titus 3:2, . 2 Timothy 2:23-25 ,
James 1:19-20

I need to get much better and state my case and moving on, and not let the emotions get involved when people don't see what I see and vice verse,

 

[lentz]

the thing is I truly believe that when people are serving the devil or a slave to the devil they are blind they do not realize it for the most part,,,, before I was born again I never thought I was going to hell (maybe once or twice) but I truly thought I was a good person. Not until I was converted did I realize how far I was from God, I was very deceived, I fear and am very sad for people like this, because you can not really reason with them,, they have been blinded ,,they do not have Godly spiritual eyes. Once you get spiritual eyes you see the whole world in a different light, and you can see things that you never did before, a example of this I recall a time when I saw nothing wrong with the way Joel Olsteen was preaching, even though I knew many people who warned and called out his teaching as false ,,I did not understand,, now I can not even listen to him,, as my stomach gets sick.

This is something I have to remember when speaking with some people on TJ, the Bible tells us not to me argumentative
Romans 14:1 Titus 3:2, . 2 Timothy 2:23-25 ,
James 1:19-20

I need to get much better and state my case and moving on, and not let the emotions get involved when people don't see what I see and vice verse,

Argumentative is one thing. But reproving a heretic and calling them out is every Christians duty.
Some would say it’s not our job.
Paul says different

 

[Brad Huber]

Argumentative is one thing. But reproving a heretic and calling them out is every Christians duty.
Some would say it’s not our job.
Paul says different

It was even more so his job when he was saul. That didnt work out to well for many.