Is the Gospel a job offer? Or good news aimed at those who believe?

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John146

Senior Member
Jan 13, 2016
17,177
3,700
113
#81
But if you are not saved until you pony up with obedience, it's a job offer.
We labor knowing that we shall appear a the JSOC. Those who don’t labor suffer the loss of rewards, but are still saved. 1 Corinthians 3.
 
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pottersclay

Guest
#84
People rob God of his glory when they try to apply salvation to themselves. It's only when they cannot save themselves and he alone saves them that he receives the glory.
Let's start with the basics here......saved from what?....why do I need saving? The carnal man has no idea what is going on.
Jesus said in the days of Noah so shall it be when the son of man returns again.
In the days of Noah they were laughing ,drinking, giving in marriage in other words life went on as it is today. Oblivious to what was to come.
Ask yourself did you know that Jesus was to return before you got saved? That you were going to die and go to hell regardless if you were a so called good person?
That there was a war going on all around you?
Did you know that the Christ died for your sin and that you could be free from the second death by believing in the only begotten?
Did you really know what sin was??

Call me ignorant but I didn't.

Praise God for his saints that pray and keep on praying for fools like me. Who keep on delivering the message of hope.
Grace comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Ya see it's still the voice of God. Be it still or thundering .
God shares his glory with no one...it's all by design....
Those who think their selves righteous need not apply.
This world will either make you or break you.....I pray for all the latter....so that the Potter can mend you.
 

Blain

The Word Weaver
Aug 28, 2012
19,504
2,711
113
#85
Jesus says whoever believes has eternal life. This is a passage that is normally understood in one of two ways. Most see it as a job offer leading to salvation. For whoever chooses to believe and accepts the terms. Some see it as an announcement aimed at those who believe as they hear, providing directions for holy living.
Like everything else in life I believe it begins and ends with the heart. Something that has always confused me is how many call themselves believers yet show anything but. When I was first saved very day I became his he and I had a deep love and bond he was my passion obsession and addiction I hungeryly sought after him all day everyday any way I could and as he and I became closer his love and his fire naturally poured into and out of me I claimed his heart as mine and he claimed mine so there was never a question about salavtion in fact it became far more to me than about salvation or going to heaven I wanted him I wanted a kind of love bond and intimacy with him that far exceeds what anyone has ever had with him I desperately wanted his heart all of it that was my treasure this love and intimacy with him there is not anything in all of heaven he could give me more precious than this I saw his heart and this bond as the greatest treasure even in heaven itself and to this day it has only increased and the hunger for his heart has only intensified.

But I soon noticed that there were so many who also said they were believers but the cruelty I saw coming from those who claimed to be his confused me it was like they were going through the motions it felt practiced or rehearsed even my best friend at the time was like this. This then made me think about the topic of salvation and I asked myself why father and I instantly shared such a bond but then others seemed to lack any kind of connection even though they said they were saved kind of like how you can hear the words of a song but it doesn't move you it is just words.

THis did for a time make me wonder if they were saved at all in fact calling it a job is a perfect way to describe it. But for me even to this day it is a joy I absolutely adore all the time I spend with him it feels easy natural and fun to me like I am a child who just adores his father and only wants to spend time with him but if salvation feels more like a job then it seems unatural to me. I knoew that for me before I was saved I wanted to be saved I wanted to know him but I just never felt any connection but at my lowest point when I felt so alone and unloved I honestly didn't care if I died I looked around my room that night and everything was trash to me and in my despair and tears I cried out to him begging him to come into my heart I just wanted to not be alone anymore to know what it is like top loved and matter to someone I said to him to take anything and do anything he wants if he would only come into my heart.

I fell asleep that night in my tears but woke up literally jumping out of filled with life and joy and this blazing fire that seemed to be inside me and all around me I literally danced around my room thanking him over and over againl. I then understood why I could never find him before it wasn't until I was willing to give everything up to go all the way that he would save me because he doesn't want followers he wants the real thing an actual love and intimacy with his children.

Now as far as if such people are saved or not I leave to him to decide but in all honesty for those who work for salavtion I feel very sorry for it must be so hard and bland feeling
 

John146

Senior Member
Jan 13, 2016
17,177
3,700
113
#86
Let's start with the basics here......saved from what?....why do I need saving? The carnal man has no idea what is going on.
Jesus said in the days of Noah so shall it be when the son of man returns again.
In the days of Noah they were laughing ,drinking, giving in marriage in other words life went on as it is today. Oblivious to what was to come.
Ask yourself did you know that Jesus was to return before you got saved? That you were going to die and go to hell regardless if you were a so called good person?
That there was a war going on all around you?
Did you know that the Christ died for your sin and that you could be free from the second death by believing in the only begotten?
Did you really know what sin was??

Call me ignorant but I didn't.

Praise God for his saints that pray and keep on praying for fools like me. Who keep on delivering the message of hope.
Grace comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Ya see it's still the voice of God. Be it still or thundering .
God shares his glory with no one...it's all by design....
Those who think their selves righteous need not apply.
This world will either make you or break you.....I pray for all the latter....so that the Potter can mend you.
I’ve spoken to several lost people who know exactly what hell is and would admit they are heading there. They’re just not willing to give up their way of life right now.
 
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pottersclay

Guest
#87
I’ve spoken to several lost people who know exactly what hell is and would admit they are heading there. They’re just not willing to give up their way of life right now.

Then can you truly say they know what hell is. Even the demons feared it.
Satan has done a excellent work to disguise the truth. "Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven". "Satan rules hell" wives tales they probably heard.
Jesus spoke to the hearts of men looking at the sermon on the mount. He spoke to the broken hearted, the tired, the weak. Which shows what I've been saying that the grind of this life will make you or break you. People who have come to the end of their selves.
The trodden.
The Bible is God's word and is truth. It is not up for debate.
I agree that I've meant some who love the darkness rather than the light I quickly avoid them. They become a distraction from the truth. They become the focus of my cross hairs in my prayers.
I used to try to prove God's word but found out what a waste of time. The best thing we can do is create a thirst little by little and let God do the rest. Not by word only but by doing what the Lord has commanded. To live a life that is holy. To be kind even to our enemies. To forgive.
Always remember it's the word of God that changes the heart not our presentation of it.
 
Jan 17, 2020
4,792
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#91
Yet many Pharisees came

Your making God a God of favorites
“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3 (KJV 1900)
 
Jan 17, 2020
4,792
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#93
We labor knowing that we shall appear a the JSOC. Those who don’t labor suffer the loss of rewards, but are still saved. 1 Corinthians 3.
This is after being saved. Faith is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.
 
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eternally-gratefull

Guest
#94
“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3 (KJV 1900)
Yep

and how is a man born again?

john 3: 16, god gave his only son that whoever believes (has faith ) I. Him will never die but has eternal life

we are born again and given eternal life BECAUSE of faith.
 
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eternally-gratefull

Guest
#95
= accepting a job offer based on works and salvation for pay. How can it not be?
Because god is not offering you a job, he is offering you a gift.

how can it be otherwise?


not to be rude, but your insulting God
 
Jan 17, 2020
4,792
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#96
The spec sheet on sin and Grace is the scripture themselves. Calvin was a human with his own ideas and many of them quite wrong. Much like the rest of us. I agree with Calvin on 2 things. 1 salvation in a work of God by his sovereign grace, not by the work or will of any man. And 2 that the depraved or unregenerate man can no more choose God than a dead man can choose to get up and walk. From there we part ways.
The scriptures have 3 different interpretations in this matter. 1) God alone saves sinners (Calvinism). Sinners save themselves with God's help (Free Will/Arminianism/Catholicism). And 3) people are not ruined by sin, they save themselves through obedience (Pelagianism/Socinianism)
 
Jan 17, 2020
4,792
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#97
Because god is not offering you a job, he is offering you a gift.

how can it be otherwise?

not to be rude, but your insulting God
But you save yourself by accepting the gift = job offer you must work to keep.
 
Jan 17, 2020
4,792
736
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#98
Yep

and how is a man born again?

john 3: 16, god gave his only son that whoever believes (has faith ) I. Him will never die but has eternal life

we are born again and given eternal life BECAUSE of faith.
You are turning the gospel into law. Why? because you must be saved before you can believe. So it's not a job offer, it's an announcement to believers about their salvation and what to do with it.
 

John146

Senior Member
Jan 13, 2016
17,177
3,700
113
#99
But you save yourself by accepting the gift = job offer you must work to keep.
It ceases to be a gift if you work for it in any way. Your trap does not work. Fatalism is not biblical.
 
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eternally-gratefull

Guest
But you save yourself by accepting the gift = job offer you must work to keep.
You sir are a false accuser, and ignorant or willfully reject the definition of a gift

When you offer a person a gift it is not a work for them to take it

the work was completed by the one who paid for the gift

Even if the receiver says know the gift is still offered. The one who rejected just does not rep the benefits