Post by scrip316 on Apr 21, 2014 2:58:19 GMT 3
Adam chose to sin by doing the one thing God told him not to do. This one action resulted in death; that is, spiritual separation from God, followed by physical death. Adam did this of his own volition. God did not make Adam sin, since James 1:13 states: “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”
It is untenable that God, who is holy in character and in all His ways would ever cause anyone to sin. Adam acted of his own will, against God’s clear command.
Likewise by one action, any sinner can reverse the spiritual death that grips his life and separates him from the God of love. As Adam broke the one command, “Don’t eat or die” so the sinner is given one command, “Eat and live”.
The Bible repeatedly states in many ways that man cannot save himself by any good works, as he is incapable of producing from his inner being anything good in God’s sight. Yet the Word of God also clearly states that a sinner does have to do something to save himself. That “something” is to simply trust Jesus Christ.
Believe that He is the Son of God, given as a sacrifice for your sin, and risen from the dead in a real body to give you confidence that your sin is taken away in the sight of God forever, once and for all by this one action on your part.
As Adam did one thing to be lost, so you must do one thing to be saved.
Jesus, who is God in the flesh, consistently taught that salvation was through faith in Him alone. As God, He was there before time began when saints were elected to be glorified and predestined to become like Jesus. Only saints are elected, and only to those two things, not salvation itself. Christ’s teaching is that one must exercise faith in Him in order to be saved. Since He is teaching that, it stands to reason that all are capable of responding. Foreknowledge enabled God to thus predestinate saints, yet plays no part in anyone actually coming to Christ. Salvation is never a reward, always a gift, so sinners are not “rewarded”
because foreknowledge allows God to see their willingness to be saved.
"Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” John 8:24 (Calvinist translation/interpretation: You will die in your sins unless you have been elected to salvation.)
It is unthinkable that Jesus, He who is the truth, would not state it in this Calvinistic way if it were true! Calvinists themselves have often told sinners to pray about whether or not they are members of the elect!
See how they have taken plain appeals by Jesus to lost men and twisted it to fit their own error?
Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God that you believe in Him whom He sent.” John 6:29 (Calvinism says: This is the work of God, already completed in eternity that you either do or do not believe in Him according God’s arbitrary choice.
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:18 (Calvinism says: Unbelievers are condemned and remain so simply because God did not choose to save them.)
He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” John 3:36
(Calvinism: He who believes in the Son has been enabled to do so by God who has chosen not to enable many others.)
Paul preached the same salvation message Jesus did, calling on lost people to simply believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
What must I do to be saved? Acts 16:29-32:29: Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.
Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Calvinist’s believe this is THEIR verse, insisting that faith is the gift and not salvation itself. Faith in their thinking, is a work, therefore, if man has faith without it being a gift, it is work. This would require adding a work in order to receive salvation. That being the case, grace would be nullified and man would be earning salvation.
We do not believe that faith is a man-made work, that which springs from his own initiative. It is the response to the Gospel and is given the impetus and occasion to spring up in the heart of man by the Gospel itself. We are specifically told in Romans 4 that Abraham was justified by faith alone, without works. That should settle the question for honest Bible believers that faith is not a work. It is not a gift either. It is the result of “work of God” who gives every sinner a reason to believe the Gospel.
Romans 4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”