Nothing we can do for salvation?

[notinvain]

If there is nothing "we do" concerning our salvation (no works, no baptism, no anything but grace through Faith) then what good is a mere prayer for salvation going to do? And isn't Faith given to us by God in the first place?

 

[JimfromOhio]

Yep... its that simple. With one important note: Please make sure your faith and repentance are REAL from your heart, mind and soul. (not just your mouth).

The moment you accept God's gift is the moment you come alive spiritually. You were dead in sin but the moment you accepted Christ, you are saved through faith. You didn't do it; it was God's gift to you. If works on your part were involved, you would boast; but the privilege of boasting about your salvation belongs to God.

Spirit convicted us to have faith in God and convicted us (making us realizing) our sins, brought us to repentance, and regenerated us. He then indwelt, baptized, sealed, gifted, and separated us from sin. In the ongoing process of sanctification, He gives us access to and intimacy with God, who supplies all the resources we need for physical and spiritual life.

Salvation is not the result of your confirmation, baptism, communion, church attendance or membership, giving to the church or to charity, keeping the Ten Commandments, living by the Sermon on the Mount, believing in God, being a good neighbor, or living a respectable life. None of those things will ever allow anyone into heaven.

Ephesians 2:1-10 (NIV)
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

 

[bitwise]

Yep... its that simple. With one important note: Please make sure your faith and repentance are REAL from your heart, mind and soul. (not just your mouth).

How does one do this? How does a stony heart make sure that his or her faith and repentance is REAL? Is there is any softness in a stone? Real repentance can only come from a regenerated individual. If the Spirit motivated it, then its repentance, if the carnal mind motivated it, then it was a failure.

The moment you accept God's gift is the moment you come alive spiritually. You were dead in sin but the moment you accepted Christ, you are saved through faith.

The problem with that statement is that you give lip service to God by saying its totally a gift from God, but in the next breathe you make human merit the first cause of salvation! Man does not cooperate with God's grace. Dead men don't accept gifts, they need life first, and then they bear the fruits OF the Spirit.

You didn't do it; it was God's gift to you. If works on your part were involved, you would boast; but the privilege of boasting about your salvation belongs to God.

Yes, but you just said that the moment you accept God's gift is the moment you come alive spiritually. It may be subtle, but it's still error. Accepting the gift requires men to act, and therefore to perform a part in getting or meriting the gift. A gift can only be A GIFT if the recipient receives it for no other purpose than the pleasure of the giver. If the giver gives the gift because the giver sees something that he wants to reward, then the "gift" is no longer a gift, but rather a payment for an outstanding debt.

Spirit convicted us to have faith in God and convicted us (making us realizing) our sins, brought us to repentance, and regenerated us. He then indwelt, baptized, sealed, gifted, and separated us from sin. In the ongoing process of sanctification, He gives us access to and intimacy with God, who supplies all the resources we need for physical and spiritual life.

I agree with you there. Faith is a fruit OF the Spirit (Gal 5:22) and a man must first be born again by the Spirit before he can truly have faith.

-bit

 

[JimfromOhio]

How does one do this? How does a stony heart make sure that his or her faith and repentance is REAL? Is there is any softness in a stone? Real repentance can only come from a regenerated individual. If the Spirit motivated it, then its repentance, if the carnal mind motivated it, then it was a failure.



The problem with that statement is that you give lip service to God by saying its totally a gift from God, but in the next breathe you make human merit the first cause of salvation! Man does not cooperate with God's grace. Dead men don't accept gifts, they need life first, and then they bear the fruits OF the Spirit.



Yes, but you just said that the moment you accept God's gift is the moment you come alive spiritually. It may be subtle, but it's still error. Accepting the gift requires men to act, and therefore to perform a part in getting or meriting the gift. A gift can only be A GIFT if the recipient receives it for no other purpose than the pleasure of the giver. If the giver gives the gift because the giver sees something that he wants to reward, then the "gift" is no longer a gift, but rather a payment for an outstanding debt.



I agree with you there. Faith is a fruit OF the Spirit (Gal 5:22) and a man must first be born again by the Spirit before he can truly have faith.

-bit

I posted this in my journal.

After salvation, in my opinion, we still have a "free-will" like God gave Adam and Eve before they sinned. God is a loving God and He is giving us a free-will to do what our hearts will take us. How do I know about my own salvation? I go through two basic questions that I have learned from the Bible.

1. "Do I believe?" Ask yourself if you affirm the Scripture's record of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Do you believe that He is God manifest in the flesh? Do you believe that God saves sinners solely through the merits of Jesus Christ's obedient life and substitutionary death on the cross?

2. Ask yourself, "Is my faith real?" The apostle John's purpose in writing the epistle of 1 John was to give true believers assurance of their salvation (1 John 5:13). In that small epistle First John gives several marks to distinguish a true believer. These are:

A. True believers walk in the light (1 John 1:6-7). The light here means both intellectual and moral truth. Ask, "Do I affirm the truths of Scripture, and desire to obey them?"

B. True believers confess their sin (1:8-2:1) Confess here doesn't mean to recite every wrong that we have ever done. Rather, it means to agree with God about our sin. That means that true believers hate their sin; they don't love it. They acknowledge they are sinful, and yet they know they are forgiven.

C. True believers keep His commandments (2:3-4; 5:2-3). The term here refers to a watchful, observant obedience. Here the believer desires to obey truths he deems precious. It involves a proactive approach to obedience-the Christian studies Scripture in order to understand and obey it.

D. True believers love the brethren (2:9-11; 3:10, 14-15; 5:2). Ask yourself the question, "Do I love God's people and desire to be around them?"

E. True believers affirm sound doctrine (2:20-23; 4:2,6). John here teaches that no true believer will fall into any serious, Christ-denying error or heresy.

F. True believers follow after holiness (2:29; 3:3-4, 6-9). These verses certainly aren't talking about sinless perfection, or even the frequency or duration of sin. The term sin in these verses describes one who lives an immoral, ungodly, unrighteous life as a matter of continual practice, and carries the attitude of hardened hate for God's righteousness.

G. True believers have the Holy Spirit (4:13; 5:10-11). This is an over-arching test summing up all the others. Is there evidence that the fruit of the Spirit is present in your life (Galatians 5:22-23)?

 

[bitwise]

If there is nothing "we do" concerning our salvation (no works, no baptism, no anything but grace through Faith) then what good is a mere prayer for salvation going to do? And isn't Faith given to us by God in the first place?

What good is a mere prayer for salvation going to do? Well, the apostate religious system of the world will tell you that if you say a prayer and profess to believe in Jesus then God is obligated to save you. If you want to believe that, then so be it, but do you believe that? Is that really the case?

I would; however, never cease in praying that God would give you hears that can hear and eyes that can see.

Christian. And did the Father reveal His Son to you?

Hopeful. Not at the first, nor second, nor third, nor fourth, nor fifth; no, nor at the sixth time neither.

CHR. What did you do then?

HOPE. What! why I could not tell what to do.

CHR. Had you not thoughts of leaving off praying?

HOPE. Yes, a hundred times twice told.

CHR. And what was the reason you did not?

HOPE. I believed that that was true which had been told me, to wit, that without the righteousness of this Christ, all the world could not save me; and therefore, thought I with myself, if I leave off I die, and I can but die at the throne of grace. And withal, this came into my mind, "Though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry" (Hab. 2:3). So I continued praying until the Father showed me His Son.

CHR. And how was He revealed unto you?

continued...

John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, 1678 A.D.

-bit

 

[bitwise]

Hello Jim, I agree with your listing to help one in discovering whether or not a true work of grace has been wrought in his heart. Indeed an excellent list, and I thank you for it! Although, I'm not so sure I agree with the idea that Adam and Eve had a free-will. It obviously was not God's plan that man should not fall. God preordained that man should fall, and therefore, it cannot be said that his will was free. Nor can any man since Adam, rightly say that his will is free. God is sovereign, and He is the potter, we are the clay. Clay is formed for a purpose. Anyway, that is perhaps another discussion; nevertheless, great list.

-bit

 

[Snow Angel]

"The Sinners Prayer"..........................
Heavenly Father:..........................................................................
I come to you in prayer asking for the forgiveness of
my Sins. I confess with my mouth and believe with my
heart that Jesus is your Son, And that he died on the
Cross at Calvary that I might be forgiven and have
Eternal Life in the Kingdom of Heaven. Father, I believe
that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you right now
to come in to my life and be my personal Lord and
Savior. I repent of my Sins and will Worship you all the
day's of my Life!. Because your word is truth, I confess
with my mouth that I am Born Again and Cleansed
by the Blood of Jesus! In Jesus Name, Amen.
If you read the Sinners Prayer and truely believe the words you read, then
Praise the Lord as you have been saved and your name will appear in the
"Lambs Book of Life!"..

 

[Bulldog]

If there is nothing "we do" concerning our salvation (no works, no baptism, no anything but grace through Faith) then what good is a mere prayer for salvation going to do?

True prayer, as in a call out the Lord of repentence and for salvation, is a sign of true conviction and work of God in saving the man,

And isn't Faith given to us by God in the first place?

Yes.

 

[pcwilkins]

If there is nothing "we do" concerning our salvation (no works, no baptism, no anything but grace through Faith) then what good is a mere prayer for salvation going to do?

Prayer is appointed by God as part of His work in the soul. It is God that shows a man he is a sinner, and it is God that grants that man real prayer. It is not 'mere prayer', as you put it. If it is real prayer, it is God's work.

For a man to truly pray is a miracle - just as much of a miracle as it would be if a dead body asked for food or drink. Until God shows a man his need, that man will not pray.

And isn't Faith given to us by God in the first place?

Yes, it is. That is why we ought to thank God for our faith. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. If you have faith, it is the direct result of God speaking it into being. Just like the worlds were framed by the word of God, so is faith, through the means of hearing.

Peter

 

[cygnusx1]

I will NEVER forget a sermon (no pulpit , no garb , and no title ) where a brother preached the Gospel , he repeated ''you cannot do anything , Christ has done it all '' ..............


I tell you I was sat in front of this guy and it was just so painful , just like a sword going straight through me , and I was already long time Saved!!!

Well I turn around and this guy broke , he was a baby crying , God had so convicted him , the memory of it is is still emotional...... he was just sobbing , the Spirit of God had searched his heart and divided his thoughts and the Spirit's conviction of sin was so strong and evident .

The guys name is Paul , I haven't seen him for ages , but he was a strong and gentle Christian the last I saw him.