The Free Gift of Salvation

[Disciple4life]

If it cost you something it really isn't free?

[J4Truth]

Originally Posted by Disciple4life

If it cost you something it really isn't free?

Actually not necessarily true. What makes something free seems to be the initial cost is paid and you receive it not at the stated cost. But to receive something whether free or not nearly always cost you something whether it be time, energy, or effort.

Think of a soup kitchen offering free food. Is the food no longer free because someone had to actually walk to the place? Or is it no longer free because someone had to wait in line? Time, effort, energy are all things we use to sometimes measure the cost of something. But if someone gives us something that initially cost money to acquire it we will still consider it a free gift even if it cost time, energy, or effort to receive it.

So cost and free are subjective terms. And it depends on what is the subject matter when determining if something is free or if there's a cost.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by J4Truth

Actually not necessarily true. What makes something free seems to be the initial cost is paid and you receive it not at the stated cost. But to receive something whether free or not nearly always cost you something whether it be time, energy, or effort.

Think of a soup kitchen offering free food. Is the food no longer free because someone had to actually walk to the place? Or is it no longer free because someone had to wait in line? Time, effort, energy are all things we use to sometimes measure the cost of something. But if someone gives us something that initially cost money to acquire it we will still consider it a free gift even if it cost time, energy, or effort to receive it.

So cost and free are subjective terms. And it depends on what is the subject matter when determining if something is free or if there's a cost.

Discount salvation?

I don't buy that. I believe that salvation is paid in full. It truly is... "finished".

The Bible says...

Ephesians 2:8-10
King James Version (KJV)
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

No one can boast of anything. It's not of ourselves. It's not predicated on works of righteousness of any kind. If it were, one could boast of their works as being relevant to their salvation. We are God's own workmanship, His masterpieces. Created in Jesus Christ unto good works, good works which God preordained that we should show because we are saved... not to be saved.

Jesus says this...

John 6:44
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.

Before any man or woman is saved, the Father must first draw them. If one isn't drawn by the Father... they can't be saved... even if they go through all the intellectual gymnastics of theological belief. They can't be saved even if they make a mental ascent to all that the Bible teaches. They can't be saved even if they live saintly lives. Salvation begins in the heart and mind of God, predicated upon His sovereign and divine will concerning His elect. His sheep know His voice... and He calls them by name. The Father draws the soul to Christ through an efficacious call of the Spirit. It never returns void. Oh, a man or woman can resist for a season, but God always triumphs over the will and mind of man. He is... God... and there is no other. Salvation is about Him demonstrating His mercy and grace as He so chooses, upon the absolutely depraved, unworthy, and spiritually dead. We didn't earn this drawing of the Father. We love Him because... He first loved us. While we were yet sinners, DEAD in trespasses and sin,... Christ died for the ungodly. When we begin to understand that salvation begins with the very drawing of God (who draws only those whom He has chosen before the foundations of the world) we realize that our salvation is God's work... not our own. It is indeed... a free gift unto God's elect children by grace.

[Aquila]

I did back up and consider the possibility of "cost"... and this is what I feel in the Spirit...

If their is any "cost" involved... it is the surrender of the will and ego to God's absolute sovereignty. To surrender all entitlement based on one's own works. To receive such unsearchable grace and riches... while finding one's self absolutely unworthy. The cost isn't connected to earning the salvation of God. It is with receiving the salvation of God. One must surrender their own sense of control and personal sovereignty/independence... "self". Now... throw your hands up in the air and count the cost of grace... a cost paid in full on Mt. Calvary. Stop trying to earn it or pay for it. Accept it. Surrender. Be humbled. Be abased. Accept the will of God concerning your calling and election. Stop struggling, trying to earn that which you couldn't earn in 10 billion years, could you even live that long. Embrace salvation by faith... then turn and live a life filled with the very same unconditional love shown unto you.

[Aquila]

So technically, salvation costs more than one's "life". It costs one's entire sense of "self".

[CJManzell]

Originally Posted by Aquila

So technically, salvation costs more than one's "life". It costs one's entire sense of "self".

It cost you everything.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by CJManzell

It cost you everything.

Amen. Especially the notion that we have anything to offer to earn such grace. Our righteousness is like filthy rags to God. We'd no sooner be able to build a wooden ladder to Heaven. It's all His work, from start to finish:

Romans 8:30
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

[Pressing-On]

Originally Posted by Aquila

So technically, salvation costs more than one's "life". It costs one's entire sense of "self".

There are no promises in the Bible without condition. You can clearly see that in Deut 28:1-2 - "And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. "

Also, the Gospel comes with condition - "(5)Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: (6) Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; (7) And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, (8)In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-9

With the obedience of the Disciples, they have been given gifts - "(7) As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ (8) Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,[a] drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give." Matthew 10:5-8

Free (freely given) only alludes to our obedience and the fact that we couldn't have done any of these things on our own. We need God's help which we receive through our obedience to Him.

[Michael The Disciple]

Originally Posted by Aquila

Amen. Especially the notion that we have anything to offer to earn such grace. Our righteousness is like filthy rags to God. We'd no sooner be able to build a wooden ladder to Heaven. It's all His work, from start to finish:

Romans 8:30
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

While in full agreement concerning election and the sovereignty of God what do you think about the verse before the one quoted?

8:28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. 8:29 For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 8:30 Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified. Rom 8:28-30

It is his purpose or "work" to conform men to the image of Christ. Suppose "believers" DO NOT wind up being LIKE JESUS? Suppose they continue in sin? They wind up dying with sin in their life?

Since as you say the work is all HIS, who is to blame?

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Pressing-On

There are no promises in the Bible without condition. You can clearly see that in Deut 28:1-2 - "And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. "

Also, the Gospel comes with condition - "(5)Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: (6) Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; (7) And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, (8)In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-9

With the obedience of the Disciples, they have been given gifts - "(7) As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ (8) Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,[a] drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give." Matthew 10:5-8

Free (freely given) only alludes to our obedience and the fact that we couldn't have done any of these things on our own. We need God's help which we receive through our obedience to Him.

You're creating a false dichotomy.