Salvation is a Free Gift.

[Pilgrimshope]

Thank you so for your very kind words... I appreciate it as always, so rare actually,
especially in the BDF. But then, you don't have a mean bone in your body, do you? .

PS~ thank you for the smiles you bring...

Your always welcome by the way jist being honest with you I really a joy your talent there that you share it’s one of my favorite things in cc and o really did do a Heist of several of your panels for my tablet screen lol

 

[Cameron143]

What of repentance and belief?

That's the response of a changed heart.

 

[Adstar]

I am moved with the amount of confusion these days about the nature of our salvation. The answer to this question can be different depending on the denomination you attend, but I believe the Bible is clear if interpreted correctly. Salvation is a free gift, that is received through repentance and faith, and it was completely paid for by what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. All we are required to do is accept it by faith.

Yes Salvation is a free gift from a Loving LORD who was willing to suffer death to pay the penalty for the sins of those who loved the truth..

But like any gift it must be accepted by the one who is being offered the gift... People must believe Jesus people must trust in the gift to receive it..

 

[PaulThomson]

In that case, it wouldn't be a free gift. Anything that someone must do to obtain it, makes it theirs only by their doing, and therefore, not a free gift.

So, if I give you the free gift of a restaurant meal, I have to chew and digest your servings for you, or it's not really a free gift? If you have to do something like go to the restaurant, order, put the food in your mouth and chew and swallow, you are doing something for the meal and it's not a free gift? Weird! Weird! Weird!

 

[PaulThomson]

These are the "all":

[Jhn 6:36-37, 39-40, 44 KJV]
36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.
37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. ...
39 And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. ...
44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

You seem erroneously to think "all" means "only those".

 

[Magenta]

That's the response of a changed heart.

Necessary for salvation in your view? Some say no, as though absolutely nothing was required of us. A work, they say.

Deuteronomy 30:6~
The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love Him
with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.

 

[ResidentAlien]

Same ol' tired and refuted "faith is a work" arguments being presented here.

 

[PaulThomson]

[Jhn 10:26-27 KJV]
26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

Jesus said this before his death and resurrection to an audience that had been given the old testament by God. At that time His sheep were those who had heard from God and learned from God, and these the Father was giving at that time to Jesus to shepherd on God's behalf. If someone believed God, they had been given to Jesus. So, it follows that any who did not believe God's testimony about Jesus were not given to Jesus and were not Jesus' sheep.

Hence, "You don't believe because you are not my sheep." If they had been Jesus' sheep, they would have been those who had believed God and been given to Jesus for doing so.

 

[Evmur]

I am moved with the amount of confusion these days about the nature of our salvation. The answer to this question can be different depending on the denomination you attend, but I believe the Bible is clear if interpreted correctly. Salvation is a free gift, that is received through repentance and faith, and it was completely paid for by what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. All we are required to do is accept it by faith.

it'll do ... folks'll get saved with that, God being super abundantly merciful.

I like the word GRACE, by GRACE are ye saved through faith not of yourselves lest any man boast. In every instance and way it is God wholly who decides.

Who shall be the beneficiaries of this grace, to whom faith shall be given as a free gift, the time and circumstances in which the deal [betwixt sinner and God] shall be struck?

Now so many reformed folks use these question and answer them in a way to EXCLUDE folk, for them the grace is restricted to a very few predestined and elect persons, Christ's precious blood [say they] is limited and does not avail for everybody.

I am reformed but I beg to differ.

For me these doctrines far from excluding anybody are set by God so as to INCLUDE the vast majority of mankind. And that despite all that appears to be the case to our natural sight.

The more I look the more I see God amazing mercy at work, I am not a universalist, I believe in hell and I believe the people that end up there will deserve to be there. There are some truly evil folk around.

The church has skated over these doctrines for too long, it's probably too late to change them now.

By grace you say, a free gift you say, by simple faith.

But that contradicts the judgement in Matthew 25. And it contradicts the Great White Throne judgement of Revelation 20. And it contradicts a great many parables, for instance the parable of the talents. No wonder people are confused, no wonder this argument has wrangled in the church for century after century.
Are we the church to be judged righteous and worthy of reward as these scriptures would seem to say? because we ministered? because we were prudent and wise?

Ah! God is holy, He cannot by any means overlook sin. Can He overlook GOOD DEEDS and still be holy and just?

Ha ha ha, I love people, do you love people? some people dedicate their whole lives to helping people, saving people, I think of cops and firemen, doctors and nurses, teachers and people involved in all kinds of outreach to help others.

Can these things buy salvation? mebbe not but I tell you God cannot overlook these things IMPOSSIBLE.

What's the answer?

The answer is they have taken away a huge slice of the Gospel, the good news about the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of Heaven is the Millennium, the 1, 000 years reign ON EARTH of Christ with His saints. We preach heaven and hell only. But there IS an earth, there will always be an earth, there will be a new heaven and new earth.

If our inheritance by God's grace is heaven, who shall inherit the earth?

The meek shall inherit the earth.

 

[ForestGreenCook]

I am moved with the amount of confusion these days about the nature of our salvation. The answer to this question can be different depending on the denomination you attend, but I believe the Bible is clear if interpreted correctly. Salvation is a free gift, that is received through repentance and faith, and it was completely paid for by what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. All we are required to do is accept it by faith.

If you are required do anything it is not free. Salvation was finished for all of those that God called, and gave to his Son who promised them an inheritance in eternal heaven (John 6:37-39)

Christ's sacrifice was offered to God, for God's acceptance. It was not offered to mankind for their acceptance.

 

[rogerg]

Jesus said this before his death and resurrection to an audience that had been given the old testament by God. At that time His sheep were those who had heard from God and learned from God, and these the Father was giving at that time to Jesus to shepherd on God's behalf. If someone believed God, they had been given to Jesus. So, it follows that any who did not believe God's testimony about Jesus were not given to Jesus and were not Jesus' sheep.

Hence, "You don't believe because you are not my sheep." If they had been Jesus' sheep, they would have been those who had believed God and been given to Jesus for doing so.

If someone believes, it was/is only because they were of those who had first been chosen by God and given to Jesus.

That someone is of Christ's sheep is a doctrine of salvation, and as such, applicable to all of His sheep throughout time, irrespective of time. His sheep were chosen by Him as His sheep from before the foundation of the world. Christ is and has always been the good shepherd - that He is, is not time dependent. It is Christ as the shepherd who seeks out His sheep; it is not the sheep who seek out their shepherd. For that to be so, His sheep must already be His sheep - therefore, it could not be possible that someone can make of themselves His sheep - it was a choice made by God alone.

[Mat 25:32 KJV]
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth [his] sheep from the goats:

[Jhn 10:16 KJV]
16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, [and] one shepherd.

[Luk 15:4 KJV]
4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

[1Pe 2:25 KJV]
25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

[Eph 1:4-5 KJV]
4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

[Jhn 10:10-14 KJV]
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.
11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd, and know my [sheep], and am known of mine.

 

[rogerg]

If you are required do anything it is not free. Salvation was finished for all of those that God called, and gave to his Son who promised them an inheritance in eternal heaven (John 6:37-39)

Christ's sacrifice was offered to God, for God's acceptance. It was not offered to mankind for their acceptance.

Outstanding, ForestGreenCook.

 

[rogerg]

You seem erroneously to think "all" means "only those".

That "all" defines who the "all" are.

You know, the comparing of the spiritual with the spiritual admonition. By not following it, I can see how someone
would think that "all" means "everyone". However, the "all" cannot represent more, or be other than those whom the Father gave to Christ.

 

[ForestGreenCook]

Amen!

The 3,000 Peter preached to in Acts 2 Accepted it.
In Acts 7 those who heard Stephen stopped their ears which means to Reject it.
So it's definitely up to the HEARER to accept or reject!

Hearing and believing in spiritual things can not be received by the natural man, until he has been born again (1 Cor 2:14) (John 10:26-29)

When a person is born again, God exchanges his heart of stone to a heart of flesh that can be bricked, by God, to feel moral guilt.(Esk:11:10)

These Jews in Acts 2 were pricked in their heart, and responded by saying unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, What must we do?.

Repenting and baptism does not deliver a person eternally, however it does deliver those who have been born again, as they sojourn here on earth from their guilty conscience ( 1 Pet 3:21)

We see in Acts 7 the response of those who have not been born again, and still have a heart of stone, by them gnashing on Stephen, with their teeth, for preaching the same sermon that Peter preached in Acts 2.

 

[rogerg]

So, if I give you the free gift of a restaurant meal, I have to chew and digest your servings for you, or it's not really a free gift? If you have to do something like go to the restaurant, order, put the food in your mouth and chew and swallow, you are doing something for the meal and it's not a free gift? Weird! Weird! Weird!

As I've said in other posts, you should not equate nor judge the nature of God's gifts relative to the ways of man.
Anyway, bad analogy. Those who receive it weren't alive and eating as you suggest, instead, they were spiritually dead. So that one receives eternal life freely, it being given to them, is what makes it a gift. Otherwise, it wouldn't be one, as no one, being dead in sin, could/would receive it, as a dead man cannot give to themselves life.

 

[ForestGreenCook]

Another silly response. Do you even know the Gospel or have you invented your own gospel? Have you ever received a gift at any time? Did you not have to actually receive it and thank the giver before that gift could do you any good? And does not Paul say thanks be unto God for His unspeakable (indescribable) gift? So how did you get saved, if in fact you did?

You think it is a silly response, because you are not rightly dividing the word. The natural man, before he has not been born again spiritually, according to 1 Cor 2:14, cannot receive things that are of the Spirit.

Those who have been born again, when they come unto a knowledge of the truth, can understand that their eternal security, and their promise of an eternal inheritance was accomplished on the cross ( John 6:37-39).

 

[ForestGreenCook]

Well unless you repented and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and received Him as Lord and Savior, that was certainly not according to what God expects. You are under the delusion that you are honoring God but, in fact you are ignoring what He has said about salvation. You have another gospel.

Your miss-understanding of the scriptures are teaching you eternal salvation=deliverance by doing good works.

Repenting and believing and receiving are good works of those who have been born again, which delivers=saves them from the destruction's of sin, as they sojourn here on earth.

These are not the works of the natural man, as described in 1 Cor 2:14.

 

[ForestGreenCook]

How can anything be a Gift until it is received?

I can buy a gift and give it away but if no one accepts my Gift then my Gift is never given.

A person that is dead (in sins) cannot accept spiritual things (1 Cor 2:14). If the scriptures do not harmonize, then you are not understanding the truth.

 

[ForestGreenCook]

When I give an alter call at the end of my sermon why are people coming to the alter?
They are coming to accept Jesus.
They heard the Gospel and made a choice to get up from the pew and walk to the altar and surrender their life to God.

That's how it basically happens to EVERYONE inside a Church Building.

When a born again person, whose heart God has exchanged, (Ezk 11:19), comes unto a knowledge of the truth, they respond to their guilty conscience, and repent, as the born again Jews did when they were pricked in their heart to feel guilty, and responded by saying What must we do. This is a response of a born again person being converted (Acts 17-19) to following God's commandments.

 

[PaulThomson]

As I've said in other posts, you should not equate nor judge the nature of God's gifts relative to the ways of man.
Anyway, bad analogy. Those who receive it weren't alive and eating as you suggest, instead, they were spiritually dead. So that one receives eternal life freely, it being given to them, is what makes it a gift. Otherwise, it wouldn't be one, as no one, being dead in sin, could/would receive it, as a dead man cannot give to themselves life.

You are resorting to the fallacy of special pleading. You have left reason out of the defense of your opinion.

You claim God is a special case, so normal analogies re receiving gifts from Him don't apply to those receiving from Him.