No I Didn't Earn It...But, I Deserve It

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Doesn't justification entail a deserving of some sort?
Actually reading the Bible would help clarify things.
 
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Martyr's Crown

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I think this thread have gotten a bit mixed in understanding. Looking at the title it can be "misleading". To earn as well as to deserve something have some similiarities.

earn
(ûrn)
tr.v. earned, earn·ing, earns
1.
To gain especially for the performance of service, labor, or work: earned money by mowing lawns.
2. To acquire or deserve as a result of effort or action: She earned a reputation as a hard worker.
3. To yield as return or profit: a savings account that earns interest on deposited funds.
Idiom:
earn (one's) spurs/stripes

To gain a position through hard work and the accumulation of experience, often in the face of difficulties.

de·serve
(dĭ-zûrv′)
tr.v. de·served, de·serv·ing, de·serves
To be worthy of; merit: She deserves a raise. He deserves to be treated with respect. See Synonyms at earn.
[Middle English deserven, from Old French deservir, from Latin dēservīre, to serve zealously : dē-, intensive pref.; see de- + servīre, to serve; see serve.]

To earn and to deserve something has a lot of the same meaning. We don't really deserve getting the gift of salvation, but it is given to us freely from God! Because of His love and grace for us, and not because we can win any favor from Him.

We are given the opportunity of becoming heirs of His kingdom, through His salvation through His Son Jesus Christ! As long as we are willing to repent and trusting in His Son Jesus Christ! As long as we are willing to giving up our own lives and living a life for Him, becoming new creatures in Christ!

God gives us what we need, and we don't always know what we truly need the most. We have a tendency of building up our own lives based on the influences given from what this world has to offer, and often want things which are in truth bad for us! But God knows exactly what we need, and blesses us with more as well because of His goodness. Yet how we receive it will have a say in this too. Do we show Him thankfulness? Do we rejoice in what He does for us, even during times when it is difficult or seems unfair to us? Where do we keep our eyes fixated on during both good as well as during bad times? Do we keep them fixated on Jesus Christ our Lord?

In truth; our lives are nothing without Christ! We don't deserve God's salvation, yet God offers this for us because of His love and mercy stretched out to us! We owe God nothing! Nothing! Still, God loves us dearly! And we should be greatly thankful before Him every day! As well as for eternity!
 
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Daniel9v9

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The only thing man is deserving of is punishment for sins. God's grace is entirely undeserved. Salvation is achieved only by the works and person of our Lord Jesus Christ, and his righteousness is credited to us by faith. Even faith is a gift - the work of the Holy Spirit.
 
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Strong in Him

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Yes; before Jesus came and you knew about, and believed, in him, you were separated from God by your sin.
The wages of sin is death, Romans 6:23. ALL have sinned, Romans 3:23.
But God has shown his love for us in this; Christ died for sinners, Romans 5:8. If we had deserved to be given a second chance, God would not be showing love; forgiveness would then be a right, and it's not.

No one deserves to be saved by God; that would be saying that your good works have earned you the right to his love and salvation. That is not correct.
Adam deliberately disobeyed God. He had, personally, heard God's voice, telling him not to do something, and he did it anyway. If God had decided to kill him, and Eve, and start again; he would have had the right to do so. Adam had done nothing, and could do nothing, to deserve a second chance - yet God gave him one.
 
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Strong in Him

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Yes, He earned it, so that I may deserve it!

No.
He didn't EARN it, he achieved it.
"Deserve" implies a reward based on good actions/behaviour. We are not good enough, and will never be able to do enough, to deserve a reward from God. He gives it out of his mercy, grace and love. We have it because of HIS love, not our worthiness.

Just imagine heaven being full of people who puffed themselves up and said, "of course I deserve to be here; I earned this." It would be unbearable.
 
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Alithis

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What! Deserve it?? The whole principle of grace is that we don't deserve it at all. If we deserved salvation, it would not be of grace. What we deserve it to spend eternity in hell, having the wrath of God continually poured on us as the just penalty of our sins.
Surely the Title was a Hook to grab attention.... ?
I sincerly hope so
 
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Strong in Him

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They see Him as a lovey-dovey Father who appreciate the favour they have done for Him by coming into His kingdom.

I don't know how wide spread that is,but it was certainly true for me at one stage.
I thought I was doing God a favour by believing in him. :oops:
 
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DamianWarS

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What! Deserve it?? The whole principle of grace is that we don't deserve it at all. If we deserved salvation, it would not be of grace. What we deserve it to spend eternity in hell, having the wrath of God continually poured on us as the just penalty of our sins. That's what we deserve, and the sooner we realise that, the greater we will really appreciate the wonderful salvation that Jesus has accomplished for us.

there is a concept of deserving the reward simply because there are instructions laid out and a promise for a reward if we follow. perhaps deserve is the wrong word but we certainly expect the reward.
 
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there is a concept of deserving the reward simply because there are instructions laid out and a promise for a reward if we follow. perhaps deserve is the wrong word but we certainly expect the reward.
The reward has been promised both in this life and the next. "Those who come to God must believe that He exists and is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."
 
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Mathetes66

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Deserve: to have earned something or be given something because of your actions or qualities or merit something based on this.

Both earned & deserve are very similar. Both are based on works not based on grace through faith & God giving us salvation as a free gift. This cannot be earned or given on the basis of our works. Otherwise it is of ourselves & not of God, Who shows mercy. We don't deserve His mercy or grace or salvation nor can we earn it on the basis of our actions or qualities intrinsic in us.

It only comes through what Christ has done in our place. We RECEIVE it in gratitude when God sees our repentant heart & faith in trusting Christ to save us, on the basis of His work on the cross: not of ourselves, not of works.

We were helpless & without God in this world, alienated from God until we put our trust in Christ's atoning sacrifice. God then IMPUTES His righteousness to our account based on faith, not based on our merits or works or actions or some qualities in us. That is what God does based on Christ's meritorious work on the cross.

 
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DamianWarS

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The reward has been promised both in this life and the next. "Those who come to God must believe that He exists and is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."
if I come and diligently seek do I deserve the reward? What if I don't come and don't diligently seek am I then undeserving of the reward?
 
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Yarddog

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Yes, He earned it, so that I may deserve it!
Maybe you can explain how you "deserve it" just because he accomplished the works God gave him to accomplish, as opposed to "I have received it through believing".

We have an incredibly loving heavenly Father who grants his children righteousness through our belief. It is a gift which we cannot deserve. Our works mean nothing towards our justification but that doesn't that mean that we remain stagnant and without growth. Those that do are at risk of being pruned from the tree.

The works of God's Holy Spirit must he present within his children but we still don't "deserve it".
 
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Foxfyre

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The Love of the Father.

Ephesians 2
"7in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not by works, so that no one can boast"

If we didn't earn it, we don't deserve it. And grace cannot be earned, therefore nobody deserves it. As Paul wrote in Romans 3:10: "There is no one righteous, not even one;" the very essence of grace is that it is a gift of God, unearned, undeserved, unmerited. We have no right to it, but because God loves us he gives it to us.
 
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aiki

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No I Didn't Earn It...But, I Deserve it.

The Love of the Father.

Ephesians 2
"7in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not by works, so that no one can boast"

I'm confused. How does receiving the GIFT of salvation in Christ translate into "I deserve it"? As many in this thread have pointed out, our redemption through the atoning work of Christ on the cross was never something we deserved. And laying hold of salvation by faith is not something we accomplish on our own. God must draw us to Christ (John 6:44), convict us of our sin (John 16:8), give to us repentance (2 Timothy 2:25), and impart to us the faith to trust in Christ (Romans 12:3). And this is because, prior to being saved, we were all as the apostle Paul described in his letter to the Ephesians:

Ephesians 2:1-3 (NKJV)
1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.


No Christian, then, has anything of which to boast in being reconciled to God. And no Christian can say they deserved any of what God has done for them through Christ. God's love is extended to us because He is a loving God. Period. There was nothing in us that warranted His love.

Does the believer's identity in Christ, their being new creations in him, give them the right to say, "I deserve all that is mine in Christ"? Well, does an adopted child have the right to say, "I deserve all that I have now as a child adopted into the family!"? I suppose he could say such a thing, but it would be enormously selfish and arrogant to do so. On what basis could he make a claim of this sort? It would be better - and much more accurate - for the adopted child to say something like, "I am the undeserving recipient of the love and blessing of my adoptive parents. I am grateful for all that they have given to me, treating me as a full-fledged son, heir of all that is theirs."
 
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aiki

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Matthew 7
"7Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8Foreveryone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. 9Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?"

Are you aware that this is specifically about receiving the Holy Spirit? The Gospel of Luke makes this clearer than Matthew's Gospel does:

Luke 11:9-13 (NKJV)
9 "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
11 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?
12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"


The promise here is not a carte blanche one, giving to Christians whatever they ask for, but is a promise to impart to all without stinting the Person of the Holy Spirit. What greater gift, after all, could we receive from God than the Spirit of God himself?

You might also consider the following verses:

1 John 5:14 (NKJV)
14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

James 4:3 (NKJV)
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
 
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eleos1954

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The Love of the Father.

Ephesians 2
"7in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not by works, so that no one can boast"

Deserve is a verb ... with an action .... that is ... do something.

We can not earn nor do anything without Him. Even our faith (divine persuasion) comes from Him, through Him.

Hebrews 12:2

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

1 Timothy 1:14

and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus.
 
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98cwitr

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I have no merit to claim, apart from God's works of sanctification and the measure of faith bestowed upon me, that I should deserve anything from God. So it is not what I deserve, but that God deserves my renewed heart's affections and reverence. This is His work, not mine.
 
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bcbsr

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Doesn't justification entail a deserving of some sort?
There's a difference between deserving something and qualifying for it. "Deserving" implies a reward earned. (Find out the definition). That's what the word "deserve" is not used in the Bible regarding salvation through the gospel of grace. God shows grace to those who don't deserve it.
 
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Blade

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Hmm I guess we can run with this thinking. I am not Adam. I was born into something I never asked for never agreed to. Born with a price on my head.... a target on my back lol so to speak. Jesus said to them about the sweet sweet Holy Spirit "you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children". Yet He is a just God.. a prefect Judge not human. Side note: I keep going back to something He told me months ago. Where I wanted to here the words "i love you" to something we all would say the words I Love you to.. . Yet He talked about the branches being grafted in and He is the vine we are the branches. He never said I love you. And thinking about this again last night .. I kept wondering why?

It shocked me..out of know where He answered...He said "I am not human". I thought.. thats right.. its something WE would all say. His answers, ways are perfect not mans ways or thinking. This came to mind here..thinking.. there is SO much to this SALVATION we dont see.

So just what is it I deserve? His hands and feet will always show the holes PRAISE GOD GLORY TO JESUS.. How long do I milk this so to speak this "poor ol'me a sinner". See when He shows up..some KNOW who they are what they are in through Christ. Others hold on to and remember they them self as lost as not deserving so they fall down.. cry out.. forgive me over and over. This LAMB can not be offered again and again each time we sin. Its either been done or not. (remember what I am running with lol). I can BOLDLY come before Him... I AM seated in heavenly places. This can NOT happen if ..I am just a sinner.. saved by grace. A truth yet not. We must take into account "all things become new" "I put on the NEW MAN which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness". Some still look back not forward. Some use Pauls words here and there about "sinner" yet.. miss out on what else he said. So many were still babes in Christ.. have to talked to differently.

So Adam sins ..and here we are how many generation down the line am I paying for what he did. Does not this JUST God see this know this? Kind of hard to run with something like this when you dont think about it this way that much. Like playing FOOTBALL in the UK and I take the ball and toss it to the other guy... there is a truth here about deserve... not easy to see
 
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